


Look to the Stars

by TheKnittingLady



Series: Tau Ceti [1]
Category: Criminal Minds, Powers of Matthew Star
Genre: F/M, Implied or Off-stage Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-09
Updated: 2013-06-26
Packaged: 2017-12-10 21:01:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 50
Words: 63,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/790126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKnittingLady/pseuds/TheKnittingLady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dr. Reid has a secret.  So does a friend he shares with Morgan.  Between them will Emily find the adventure she wants?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_**Part 1** _

_I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars._

_\- Og Mandino_

* * *

 

**Chapter 01**

_He held her in his arms, her warm, willowy body pressed against him. They danced slowly, to the sound of a scratchy record sitting on a table under a tree. They danced under the heavens, strewn with millions of stars._

" _It's almost time." She murmured quietly._

" _Time?" He asked._

" _For me to fade into memory."_

_He tightened his grip slightly. "No."_

" _Yes." She replied calmly. "Your true love is on her way. She'll need the spaces in your dreams."_

" _You're my true love." He insisted._

" _No." She replied so very gently. "I was your teacher. My purpose was to teach you how to love."_

_She had, he realized. If that was her purpose then she had done her work admirably and well. "Why?" he asked._

" _Because you two have so very much to do," she replied. "You have a task almost greater than you could imagine. To accomplish it you must love with all of your heart, just like I taught you."_

" _What do I have to do?"_

_She smiled and tipped her head back. "Look up to the stars."_

Spencer Reid awoke clutching his pillow tight to his chest.

It had been eighteen months and twenty-two days since Maeve Donovan had died. Since then he had dreamed of her more times than he could actually remember, since he had blocked out a few that he'd thought might be nightmares. But only in the past three or four months had he stopped waking from them weeping with the loss. He rather considered that an improvement.

Now he rolled over, turned off his alarm and considered. He knew that his dreams of holding her were to somehow make up for never being able to hold her when she was alive, and he knew that the conversations they had were stitched together bits from the letters and phone calls they had shared in real life. But he sometimes wondered what his subconscious was trying to tell him.

It would come to him eventually.

He sat up, stretched, said good-bye to Maeve for another day, and headed to the shower.

* * *

 

"Hey, looks who's back!"

Yeave smiled as everyone welcomed her back to the scot locker room with big smiles. Being away for the mandatory time was a pain, literally. It was good to be back and back on her feet.

She made her way over to the locker pod in the far corner, where she knew the rest of the crew of the  _Sulaco_  would be getting up and moving for the day. "Lazy, sloppy, half-blind…" She teased as soon as she was in earshot.

Kemom, their operations officer, turned and gave her a big grin over his shoulder. "Well what do you expect with our nanny off on vacation."

"Oh ho ho, vacation, yeah, right. You get vacation when you guys go, for the girls it's not so easy." She'd just had a shower before she left the genetics unit, but the rest of them were still getting dressed, so she leaned against the wall to wait.

Leander, their engineer, looked up from where he was pulling on his pants. "Did you hear the news?"

"I've been in Genetics for two weeks; no one gets news in there."

"Admiral Nox is coming aboard."

Oh hell. "You mean he's actually doing work?"

Lendel grinned, "Probably not."

Kemom looked at her after his shirt came down over his head. "He probably ran out of nulls on his flagship, finally." Yeave rolled her eyes and nodded at the forth station in the pod. "What? She's not paying attention. She never pays attention in here."

Yeave looked around to the fourth station. There, tucked in between the pod and the wall, sat Sarai, their pilot, her nose buried in her reader. "Are you going to finish getting dressed?" She asked.

" _Are they covered yet?"_

Yeave smiled as the voice that bypassed her ears and went straight to her brain. Not paying attention her ass. She nodded as Sarai's eyes flicked to her. Immediately the younger woman stood and started pulling on her outer uniform. Yeave looked back at Leander, "I saw that we're scheduled for maintenance today. What are we doing?"

"Swapping out the stabilizers, Captain."

Oh goody. "All right, let's go get breakfast."

* * *

 

Matthew Star sighed as a plate of eggs was put down in front of him. It wasn't that the papers he was grading were bad; it's that they were dismal.

Walter Sheppard waited for him to move said papers so he could put down the toast. "That bad?"

"Worse. My students think they can skate because daddy will buy them in to the college of their choice and we can't say anything because, if we do, daddy will have us all fired." He closed his briefcase and turned back to the table. "What's worse is that they're right."

Shep clucked his tongue as he sat. "It wasn't like that when I was teaching. Back then parents had expectations."

"It's not only that, these are the sons of power and privilege. Someday they just might be leaders. What happened to Nobellese Oblige, the idea that privilege entails responsibility or at least honorable behavior?"

Shep chuckled. "Look at their role models."

Matt groaned. "Please, I'd like to be able to eat." Just then his phone bleeped a text. "Oh you have got to be kidding."

"What?"

"Meeting before chapel, if we can make it. Apparently someone got in trouble last night." And these were the equivalent of the children of noblemen. "Was it like this back home?"

"No. But they had your father for a role model." Shep checked the clock. "You can make it if you pick up coffee on the way to work.

* * *

 

Emily Prentiss turned from the coffee kiosk and very nearly ran into her co-worker. "Peter." She said as she shook coffee from her hand.

"I don't know why you drink that swill." He said as he offered her a handkerchief. "You have an assistant who makes very proper afternoon tea."

"Nostalga. Why are you down here?"

"I wanted to catch you before you got upstairs; it seems the austerity movement has reached Interpol at last. They are closing offices they consider redundant."

"So?"

"So with Scotland Yard as a partner we are apparently redundant."

Emily considered this. She'd taken over the Interpol office when Clyde Easter had been promoted, believing him when he said it would be an exciting opportunity. Clyde lied; it was all paperwork and politics. Truth was she was immensely bored and lonely in London. "This might not be a bad thing. I mean everyone will be snapped up by other agencies, you know that."

"And I am ready to retire, but what about you?"

What about me, Emily thought. What will I do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a crossover of sorts between Criminal Minds and an obscure TV show from the 1980's that inspired the books "I Am Number Four". Not based on the book but on the original show.
> 
> Cannon for Criminal Minds through 08x20 "Alchemy".  
> Roughly cannon for TPMS through 01x08 "Endurance", but I'm playing very fast and loose with that cannon.
> 
> All CM character and TPMS characters copyright to their creators. The crew of the Sulaco is mine.
> 
> Please note, I'm posting this so people can subscribe if they like. Expect chapter 2 roughly five days from the date this is published.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 02**

Was there anything down there?

Spencer looked out the window of the plane and sighed.  There was always something about flying back from a case; at this distance everything looked so peaceful.  From here you couldn’t see the evil that waited, the next Unsub, any of it.

“What’s wrong?”  Blake asked.

He sighed.  “Did you ever feel like you should be doing more?”

She blinked at him in surprise.  “Spencer, we just took down an Unsub who took a girls’ school hostage.”

“I know.”

“We saved three dozen lives.”

“I know”

“You distracted the guy long enough for Hotch to get the shot.”

“I know.”

“What more do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.  I just keep feeling like I should be doing more.  I keep having this dream where Maeve tells me I’m going to do something bigger than I can imagine.”

Blake shook her head.  “Well after a day like today your imagination ought to be pretty big.”

* * *

 

_Sarai strolled down the wide main footpath.  It was paved with blue clay bricks and lined with mik-mik trees, providing rich treats to all who came to feast on knowledge.  As she slowly walked through the cool, fresh morning air she reached up and plucked one free, raising it to her lips and inhaling the soft perfume before savoring a tart-sweet bite._

_There was no sound but the rustle of the breeze in the trees, and the bricks were stable under her feet._

_At the end of the path lay her library._

_The cream building with the delicate carvings of nature rose stories high above her.  The U shape of the front allowed for a large, airy courtyard in the center, with a stone wall fountain and small table and benches and siltura screens to shade the plantings of delicate flowers transplanted from the Royal gardens.   The two wings that surrounded the courtyard held libraries for music and musicians and one for children, both of which could be opened to the courtyard and the air, so all might enjoy the music and laughter.  But for now they were closed and silent.  The only sound other than the fountain came from the cheeping of a nest of klimt chicks perched in one of the trees, who lifted hungry mouths when mother bird landed with a worm in her beak._

_She needed this._

_She entered the main hall and gazed up at tier upon tier of balconies, their wooden and metal balustrades as pale and delicate as the lace on her dress that teased at her ankles.  And beyond that delicate lace laid row after row of shelves of books.  Real books with leather and cloth bindings and the wealth of knowledge and imagination of all the League worlds preserved within them._

_In the center of the hall beneath the crystalline dome stood a comfortable chair, a footstool, a good lamp and a serving table that would present her with hot cups of rinan and small pastries at a touch.  All she’d need for a long day of study._

_And she was alone.  There wasn’t a sound in all of that space._

_With a delicate smile Sarai turned to the stacks and started to browse._

* * *

 

There was nothing down there.

Yeave sighed as she looked over Kemom’s shoulder.  There were no enemy outposts on this world.  There was nothing on this world.  Once again the Meks had destroyed an entire colony and left nothing but scorched earth behind.  “Damn.  Hey.”  She reached up to the front of the ship and poked her pilot out of her doze. “Wake up Sparky.  Set out course for vector 322.”

“Yeah.  Sorry.”  Sarai blinked awake and straightened up in her seat.  “Vector 322, Aye, Captain.”

“Why can’t we get ahead of them?”  Kemom asked with a groan.

“Because Admiral Nox is too busy futtering every null in the fleet to actually fight the war anymore.”  Leander replied.  “Everyone knows that he should have retired three rotations ago and the League should promote Commander Parsillus, but no one wants to stand up to Nox.”

“Why not?”  Sarai asked as she minutely adjusted their course to complete the grid.

“You really don’t pay attention to anything outside of your books, do you?”  Leander scoffed.  “Rumor has it Nox has noble blood.  He controls everyone who tries to confront him, which was great when he actually had ideas but now he’s just using it to satisfy his hormones.”  Leander shook his head.  “I’m glad I’m implanted.

“Me too,” Kemom agreed.  He looked over at the back of Sarai’s head.  “So what’s it like to not have an implant?”

“What’s it like to have an implant?”  She replied.

“Calm and quiet.  But you nulls are all supposed to be these closet wild children, hormones everywhere…”

Leander chuckled.  “Come on, man, in the five rotations we’ve been working together have you ever known our resident bookworm to be wild?”

“I guess there’s no point once you’ve been sterilized.”  Yeave said, trying to end the conversation.  Most of the people in the Human Armada had their sexuality controlled by implant.  It kept everyone calm and content and let them live in cramped quarters for long periods of time without risk of diseases being spread or unintended pregnancies. Once a year you reported to Genetics for two weeks to have your implant turned off long enough to ovulate or do whatever the guys did.  The results were retrieved, frozen, and flown to one of the home planets to be implanted into a surrogate, to ensure genetic diversity and survival of the species.  But some people carried genetic anomalies that could cause illnesses in future offspring, and instead of receiving an implant they were chemically sterilized to keep them out of the gene pool.  In other words, rendered null.

 “I want to know how Nox overcame his implant.”  Sarai said. 

“I heard he got the head of Genetics to shut it off.”  Leander, king of all gossip, replied. 

Sarai groaned.  “No wonder we’re not winning the war, he’s thinking with the wrong head.  You’re right, he needs to retire or be replaced.”

“And who’s going to tell him that, you?”

“Maybe.”

“With him having noble blood?  Good luck in getting your brains back in your head after they run out your ears.”

Yeave looked over at her pilot, charge and friend and noticed the firm set of her jaw.  “What are you thinking?”  She asked quietly.

Sarai nursed the _Sulaco_ over the burnt out remains of a village, “That we should be doing more.”

* * *

 

Matt looked out his classroom window at the knot of boys forming in the lawn.  If there was one thing he hated it was monitoring work hours, but it was his turn in the rotation and so it had to be done.

Moments later he was walking out to join them carrying a box of latex gloves, trash bags, and pointed sticks.  “Afternoon gentleman!”  He said with a bright smile.  “Welcome to the Friday round of working off your demerits.  This afternoon we will be picking up trash around the Cathedral close.”

The lot of them groaned.  “Isn’t that what we have gardeners for?”  One asked, sullenly.

Matt felt his anger and frustration flare.  Why did these boys persist in thinking they were better than everyone else?  They were no better or worse, in fact they were worse in many cases, simply from the contemptuous attitude they showed toward others.  “Doesn’t matter; it’s a job that needs to be done and today it’s our turn to do it.”

“I’m not picking up trash.”  Another insisted.

I shouldn’t have to bribe them, he thought angrily.    “Every hour you spend works off another demerit.”

“So?”

“So no one goes off campus for the week-end with open demerits.”

The first one smirked.  “Tell that to my dad, he’s coming to pick me up.” 

And his father was a Senator.  “I’m sure your father expects you to accept the responsibility for your actions and pay the cost.”

“He expects me to not be late.  See ya.”  The first one walked off, quickly followed by most of the rest of them.

Matt just groaned.  Who the hell did these kids thing they were anyway?  Who taught them that they were better than anyone else?  What happened to real role models?  He looked at the few left, mostly freshmen with less well-heeled parents, who’d received a handful of demerits for minor infractions.  “You guys staying?”  They nodded.  “Okay, we’ll work until supper and then I’ll clear the lists for you.”

As the boys divided the tools and bags Matt pulled on a pair of gloves.  It needed to be done so he was doing, simple as that.  And maybe he was setting a good example for the boys that remained.

He just wished he could do more.

* * *

 

Emily looked out of her office window at the lights reflecting of the Thames and sighed.  “I just wish I could do more.”  She said into her phone.

“So come home.”  JJ replied on the other end of the line.  “Get back to DC, regroup.  You’re too young to be a paper pusher for the rest of your career. “

“There isn’t an opening on the team.”

“So?  We’ll come up with something, I’m sure of it.”

Emily considered.  She hadn’t felt intellectually challenged, comfortable, even deep-in-the-bones safe since she left DC.  If nothing else she could bounce ideas off of everyone else for a time.  “I’ll right.  I’ll come back.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 03**

Saturday morning and Matt had a few hours to kill before he headed over to the Y to coach football.  And he had promised to give Shep a ride down to Dupont circle.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love Shep; the man was the only father he had ever known.  He’d given up his home, his family and his culture to bring his best friend’s infant son to a completely new place in order to protect him.  He’d never tried to start a family of his own, never even found a companion, just worked at a quiet job, teaching math in a suburban school outside of LA, just so that he, Matt, could grow up in this culture with a happy, normal life.  To say best friend did not even begin to cover what he felt for the man.

But he’d outstripped the older man’s abilities in chess long ago.  So while Shep went to meet his friends at the chess tables, after which they were going for lunch and a movie, Matt went to find someone who would be an actual challenge.  When he saw a particular man sitting at an empty table he just grinned.  “Hey Spencer.  Waiting for someone?”

“Not at all,” Spencer Reid looked up and smiled.  “Best two out of three again?”

“Yeah, but, uh….”  Matt sat and stretched his legs under the table.  “…doesn’t the loser from last week buy the coffee?”

Spencer just chuckled and headed for the coffee cart.

* * *

 

Sarai waited until the two guys were well and truly focused on their conversation as they worked on the port skid before saying anything to her companion.  “Do you think he’ll send for me?”

“Who?”  Yeave wiped the sweat off her face, smearing grease across her forehead.  “Ugh.  There has to be a better way of doing this.”

Sarai groaned her agreement.  The unacknowledged truth was that nulls were discriminated against in the fleet.  That meant that a scout crew with a null pilot was going to get the oldest, crappiest ship available.  And that meant that the _Sulaco_ was the only ship of her kind on the carrier, and required her own tools and parts, all of which were hard to come by, including grease injection equipment, if this class ever had such a thing.  So when it came time to pack the joints on the landing skids they had to work the stuff in by hand, a hot, filthy job every time.  But it had to be done so there was no point in complaining.  “Admiral Nox, who else.”

 “Probably.  If he does what are you going to do?”

“Turn him down, of course.”

Yeave sighed.  “You know, I hate to say it…”

“Then don’t.”

“…but he would be a good political match….”

“I don’t care.”

“…and if he does have noble blood…”

Sarai found the spanner and started working on the bolt to remove the cover for this joint.  “That doesn’t matter.”

“How can that not matter?”

“Because being of the nobility isn’t just about your brain power, how well you can take in information and how quickly you can make decisions or even about what other abilities you have.  It’s about what you do with it.  It’s about your character and your choices, and anyone who would deliberately slow down the fleet and avoid closing with the enemy to allow himself more time for his sexual escapades is _not_ noble.”

Yeave chuckled.  “So you say.”

“Exactly.”  This bolt just did not want to go.

“The League parliament would say something else.”

“Yeah, well they only have one more rotation to say it.” 

“And what do you plan to do first when the time comes?”

“Retire Nox and give the fleet over to Parsillus.  Then maybe we can win this war.”  Rot the thing.  “And then I’ll choose my own husband.  There has to be someone out there with an evolved mind and an honorable heart.  Is anyone looking?”

“No, why?”

Sarai gave up on the spanner and _focused_.  With a loud squeak of protest the stubborn bolt unscrewed itself and dropped into her waiting hand.  “There.”

Yeave sighed.  “If only Nox would be that easy.”

“No kidding.”

* * *

 

“Thank you.”  Emily said.  “It’s only until Monday.  By then all the conventions will clear out and I can get a room.”

“Like I mind.”  Penelope Garcia replied as she brought over some pillows for the sofa bed.  “You stay as long as you want to.  But what made you drop everything and come to DC anyway?”

“I don’t know.”  Emily sighed.  “I mean other than that my office is closing and they really don’t need me there anymore.”

“They don’t?”

“No, Peter can handle everything.  Hell, he can handle it better than I could.  It’s all paperwork and politics now.”  Emily dropped on the couch and clutched a pillow as Garcia headed over to her kitchen corner.

“So doesn’t Interpol need you somewhere else?”  Garcia started putting snackies together.

“Behind another desk, pushing more paper?”

“Well…”

“I want something exciting, some new adventure.  Something that really uses my skills.”

“Emily, sweetie, you’ve personally stopped international terrorists, major arms dealers and our home grown whack jobs.  You have been CIA, on the most elite FBI team, ran the London office of Interpol. You’ve been beaten, held hostage, staked…”

“Yeah, so what are you saying?   That I’m 38 and out of options?”

“I just…”  Garcia huffed and sighed and nodded and brought over wine.  “I think you’ve worked into management here hun.”

“I don’t buy that.”  Emily took her first sip of the night.  “There has to be something out there.  And if anyone can help me figure out what it’s the people right here in DC.”

Garcia’s phone buzzed.  “Speaking of, do you want to go out tonight?” 

“Where to and with whom?”

“Max’s and Derek and his fellow coaches from the Y football program, I said yes before you called.  Looks like JJ and Hotch can’t go…Blake is turning it down…”

Max’s was the place they always went to after a hard case, a solid, neighborhood kind of place.  She wouldn’t have to dress up at all.  “Oh, I wanted to meet her.”

“No reply from the Junior G-man but we can stop and force him into the car.  It’s Saturday night, he’s home.”

Emily shrugged and took another sip of wine.  “Sure, why not.”

Garcia smiled and started texting everyone back.

* * *

 

As the crew of the _Sulaco_ headed for the locker room to wash off the grease, a courier stopped them in the hallway.  “Orders for Pilot Sarai of the _Sulaco_ ,” he said.

Sarai held up her grease coated hands.  “Can you read them?’

The courier nodded and checked his statpad.  “Ordered to report to Admiral Nox’s cabin tonight at the dinner break.”

They collectively groaned.  “Well that took no time at all.”   Leander said.

Sarai gritted her teeth.  “Lovely.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 04**

Derek Morgan grinned, today was a good Saturday.  He’d stopped at the place he was working on to put up the latest coat of paint this morning, gone over to the Y to coach the kids in the afternoon, now here he was waiting with the guys for his baby girl and the surprise guest she was bringing with her so they could get the party started.  “First rounds on me.”  He said.

“If you insist.”  Matt replied with a grin.  “I’ll go get them.  What are you having?”

“What’s on tap.”  Morgan always liked Matt, the guy was stand up.  Always there for the kids, never missed a practice, and when he wasn’t coaching them he was helping them with their math homework.  Definitely one of the good guys.  Just then he caught a fluttering flash of bright colors at the door.  “Hold up, they’re here.”  He pulled over the new menu to see if anything was really new.

“Oh yeah?”  Matt turned and Morgan felt him come to all kinds of attention.  “ _Who_ is that?”

“Who?”   They had a new pizza, might check that out. 

“Dark hair, dark eyes, built like a…”  Matt gave an appreciative sigh.

Huh?  Morgan looked up and felt the good Saturday become a damn good Saturday.  “Emily!”

* * *

 

Max’s hadn’t changed.  Max’s would never change.  Screw the proper British pub, Emily thought; give me a friendly neighborhood bar/pizza joint any day.  “Now isn’t this better than sitting home?”  She asked Spencer.

“Yeah, probably,” he replied.

Emily rolled her eyes.  She’d missed all of the Maeve saga, something she deeply regretted now.  If she’d been here for him to talk to…well, there was no way to know now.

Then Garcia stopped, blocking traffic.  “Oh Morgan has been holding out on us.” 

Emily turned and looked in that direction.  It must have been one of the other coaches sitting with Morgan.  About his height, pale skin, ink black hair, bright blue eyes that could not be normal, a build that rivaled Morgan’s, just whoa.  “He has to be gay.”

Then their eyes locked and you could have just knocked her over.  She could just drown in those eyes.

 Somehow she felt herself floating to the table, Morgan giving her a hug of welcome home.  “Emily Prentiss,” She heard dimly.  “Matt Star.”

Oh boy.

* * *

 

At the appropriate hour, in an appropriate uniform, Sarai presented herself at the door to the Admiral’s quarters, which opened to let her in at her touch.  She took up an appropriately neutral stance a few feet away from the Admiral’s desk.  “You wanted to see me Admiral?”

Admiral Nox was old enough to be her father, although he had kept himself up as they say.  He looked her over in a way that clearly stripped off her uniform to see the figure underneath.  “Yes, please.”  He gestured to a table in the other room, set with a lavish dinner for two, real food, not processed rations, not far from his bed, and moved in that direction.

Sarai didn’t move, not even at the sight of mik-mik fruit or what had to be a pot of rinan.  “Is my performance in question Admiral?”

He stopped.  “No.”

“New orders for me or my crew?”

“No.”

“Reassignment?”

He smiled patiently, chuckled a little.  “No.”

“Ah.  Then apparently there’s been some mistake.  I won’t take up any more of the Admiral’s valuable time.”  With a polite smile she turned to go.

“I asked you here for dinner.”  The Admiral sounded a bit surprised.

She turned back slightly.  “Thank you, Admiral, but I’m not hungry.”

“It’s real food.” 

“I see that.  Good evening Admiral.”

He took a step forward and Sarai felt a coil of power, thin and weak but there, working its way into her mind.  “Stay.”

She brushed the attempt away like she might brush dust from her uniform.  “Good evening Admiral.”  She repeated and started walking to the door.

A heartbeat and he was grabbing her arm and turning her around, trying even harder to get into her mind.  “I said stay.”  Well fine, if he wanted to play it that way.

A moment later the door opened and the Admiral’s guards ran in.  “Sir?”

“What?”  He snapped.

“You called for help sir.”

The Admiral looked at them in confusion, and then back at Sarai.  He tried one more time to send that thin, weak thread of power into her mind.  This needs to end, she thought, so for just a moment she let him sense what she could send back.  He immediately let her go, stepped back, and straightened his uniform and his dignity.  “That will be all pilot.”

“Yes, Admiral.  Good evening.”  She nodded to the guards as she walked out the door.

* * *

 

“Hey Matt.”  Spencer was honestly surprised to see him there.

“Spencer!”  But he wasn’t looking at him, he was looking past him.  “I didn’t realize you and Derek worked together.  Who is this?”

“Oh, Penelope Garcia, Emily Prentiss, Matt Star.”

“Hi.”  Garcia purred.  Nope, Matt really wasn’t looking at her either.  “So you know Spencer and Derek?  There’s a coincidence for you.”

“Yeah, Derek and I coach junior high football over at the Y on Saturdays.”

“Did you play?”

“Yeah, college, till I screwed up my elbow.”

“Wow.  So how do you know Reid?”

“Oh, I’ve been kicking his ass in chess for a while now.”

“Hey!”  Now that couldn’t stand, “Only about half the time.”

“True.”

That left the rest of the table blinking.  “Wait, you beat Reid in chess?”  Garcia asked, not flirting.

“Yeah, he’s a really good player.”  Nope, Matt had yet to take his eyes off Emily.

“Jinkies.  Ever try Go against him?”  Garcia asked.

 Matt finally made the effort to look away.  “You play Go?”

“Yeah, and that will be our next tournament.”  Now it was past challenge to point of pride.  “Who wants what?”  Spencer got up to go get the first round of drinks.

“Um, I’ll go with you, help carry.”  Matt said, rising as well.  At the bar Spencer ordered three beers and a coke.  “Two cokes.”  Matt said.  Spencer turned an inquiring eyebrow his way.  “Allergic to ethanol.”  Matt explained.  “It’s not pretty.”  The way he said it made it honest.  “So who is she?”

“Who?”

“The woman you came in with.”

“Emily?  She used to work with us, transferred to a European agency a few years back.  They’re closing her office, budget cuts.”

“Ouch.  Is she single?”

Huh?  “Um, as far as I know.”

* * *

 

“So tell me about him?”  Emily said as soon as the guys headed to the bar.

Garcia grinned.  “I’d say tell us about him, but he couldn’t take his eyes off you.  And you can’t seem to take your eyes off him either.”

“Can you blame me?”  Dear god that man had the tightest ass.

Morgan was just chuckling.  “He’s in his 30’s, played at UCLA for three years, now he’s teaching math out at St. Alban’s.”

“High school math teacher,” Garcia grinned.  “At least he’s gainfully employed.  Not exactly adventurous type though.”

“Worse than that,” Morgan was still grinning.  “He still lives with Daddy.”

“No!”  Garcia was shocked.

“Not like that.  I get the feeling his parents were older when they adopted him; old man’s got some health problems or something.”

“Adopted?”

“Yeah, his old man looks a lot like mine.  He said that he was a close friend of his fathers, so after his parents passed he took him in.”

“Awww.”  Garcia said, “That’s sweet.  He sounds like a real stand up guy.”

Morgan nodded his agreement.  “Yeah, he’s one of the good ones.  I just didn’t know he was some kind of genius or something.”

“You think?”  Emily asked.  Maybe that’s what it was about his eyes, the intelligence in there.  She hadn’t met anyone that intelligent in Europe, or before the BAU.  Maybe her teammates had spoiled her for guys you could really talk to.

“If he’s beating Reid at chess.”  Morgan shook his head.  “Only guy I ever saw do that was Gideon.”

“Good point.”  Then Spencer and Matt were coming back with the drinks.  Yeah.  Emily turned on her best smile.  Maybe this was the adventure she was looking for.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 05**

Two nights later Matt was getting dressed to take a very interesting lady out to dinner.  “This is a mistake.”  Shep said from the doorway.

Matt stifled his groan.  “What, wrong shirt with the jacket?”  He asked, trying to keep it light.

“Wrong woman,” Shep replied, as Matt knew he would.  “She’s FBI.”

“Former FBI.”

“Doesn’t matter.  It’s too dangerous.”

“Shep….”  It was a quiet plea, as it had been so many times before.

“No, don’t Shep me.  You must stay hidden!”

“She’s not going to guess anything.  Derek hasn’t.  Spencer hasn’t.”

“You weren’t planning on becoming intimate with Derek or Spencer.  Yes…”  Damn it.  Matt tried to ignore Shep but it was impossible.  “I know what you’re thinking.  I may not have been born here but I wasn’t born yesterday.”

Well he was right about that.  “The story will hold.  Hell, it holds even better now with all the records being destroyed.”

“It’s still dangerous.”  Shep insisted.

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

* * *

 

“That was foolishly dangerous!”

Sarai started peeling out of her uniform.  She hadn’t meant to shove the Admiral back like that, but after he actually grabbed her she lost her temper.  “He’s not going to out me, even if he does suspect. “

“You don’t know that!”  Yeave was standing there chewing her a new one.

“Yes, I do.  The Genetics Computer won’t identify me before the end of this rotation, period.  Even he can’t override that one.  All I have to do is deny it.  But he’d have to admit openly that he has abilities and that will paint a target on his back for every Olan spy and assassin in the fleet.  They’d stop going after colonies for resources and slaves and attack us directly.”  The Olans, with their Mek warriors, had targeted the Noble born in the League for decades now.  More evolved humans had a habit of leading people out of slavery, not into it.  “In the meantime he’s not going to get permission to marry, let alone marry a known null.”

“He’s devious.”  Yeave insisted.  “The moment we let our guard down he’ll find a way.  He’s already had his implant switched off, how do you know he can’t give the genetics computer to give you up?”

Well there was a disquieting thought.  Now down to her comfortable undergarments Sarai settled back into her bunk.  “He can’t, that’s another order of magnitude of security to break.”

“You don’t know that for certain.”  Yeave shook her head and started stripping out of her own uniform.   “If he outs you to the League Counsel they can order you to marry him. You know that.”

“I can refuse.”

“At the end of this rotation, until then the only one who can override them is the King.”

That was not something Sarai wanted to think about.  “The King is gone, Yeave.”

“You don’t know…”

“I said he’s gone!”  She immediately regretted taking that tone with her companion and friend.  “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to snap like that.”

“It’s all right.  There’s reason for losing your temper”

Sarai sighed.  “I don’t know.  Maybe we should warn the guys at least, that way they can watch our backs.”

Down to her own underwear Yeave climbed into the top bunk and turned out the room light leaving only the small nightlights at the bunks.  “Kemom and Leander?  Please, I’d trust them in a crunch but neither of them can keep a secret to save their own asses, let alone ours.”

“True.”  Sarai rolled over and pulled out her reader.

“You’re going to stay up and read, aren’t you?”

“I need something new to think about.  I get itchy if I don’t have something there.”

“Don’t read too late.”  Yeave told her.  “You’ll fall asleep at the controls again.”

“Yes, Mother.”  Sarai heard Yeave turn and settle above her while started absorbing new information.  Maybe it would crowd out the fear.

* * *

 

A quiet place, new but not too hip.  A good but not too pretentious wine.  A fascinating but relaxed companion.  Pretty much everything Emily Prentiss wanted in a date.  They had already discussed his job and his frustrations with his students, her former jobs and her frustration with being promoted to a paper pusher, and life as an Ambassador’s kid.  “So you live with your Dad?”  She asked over a charming dessert.

“Guardian,” Matt corrected gently.  “But yeah.  He’s my oldest and closest friend.  I owe him my life, literally.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, he, um….”

Sore subject.  “You don’t have to tell me.”

“Actually if anyone might understand….”  Matt sighed and looked into the dregs of his glass of wine.  “He was actually nervous about my meeting you here.”

“Why?”

“I’m not exactly from around here.”

Oh.  Oh, wait a minute.  “I’m guessing further than LA?”  Emily asked gently

“More like outside Berlin.”

Berlin.  He would have been born maybe late ‘70, well before... “Eastern side?”  The wrong side of the old Iron Curtain back then.

“Yeah.”

“Mathias Stern does have kind of a ring to it.  Your parents didn’t make it out?”

“Unfortunately no.  Shep’s family was from over here, they had worked for my family for generations, and he was a good friend of my father so he risked his life to get me to safety.  They weren’t happy when I went missing.”

“Oh.”  Emily winced.  The Stasi, the East German secret police, were not kind to people who tried to defect.  “I’m sorry.  How old were you when you came over?”

“Six months.  Shep is the only family I’ve ever known.  I’ve cleared up the paperwork since then but he’s still a little paranoid...”

“It’s understandable.  He doesn’t need to worry; I’m not going to turn you in to INS.”

Matt gave her that charming smile again.  “Sure about that?’  
“Well, not if you ask me out again.”

* * *

 

_Sarai strolled down the wide main footpath to her library.  It was going on evening now, and she pulled the delicate lace shawl around her shoulders to keep out the slight coolness to the breeze._

_As before the walk was quiet except for the sound of her footsteps.  The courtyard empty but for the glowglobes in the trees and the splashing of the fountain and the klimt bird resting on her nest._

_But something had changed._

_When she stepped into the hall there wasn’t one chair waiting._

_There were two._

_Two chairs and two good lamps and a serving table set for two._

_How very strange._

_Sarai decided not to think of this now.  Decision made she turned and headed into the stacks once again._

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 06**

It didn’t take long for things to fall apart.

The next morning at briefing the crew of the _Sulaco_ was sitting in Morning Briefing when the Lt. Commander looked up from his notes and jumped to attention.  Immediately the entire room followed suit.  “Admiral, sir!”  He snapped out.

“As you were,” Admiral Nox said.  “Don’t let me disturb you.”

“Yessir.”  The Lt. Commander went back to handing out duty assignments, with more snap and more nerves than before.

As Sarai sat there, properly taking notes, she felt that thin but real thread worm its way into her mind once again.  _“I know who you are,” s_ aid a voice in her mind that wasn’t her own.  _“I know you can hear me.  We ought to discuss the future, you and I.  Perhaps once your crew goes to work we can have some time alone.”_

Sarai did not even acknowledge hearing that.  But a moment later a voice echoed over the intercom.  “Admiral Nox to the bridge!  Admiral Nox to the bridge!”  A heartbeat after that they heard the door close behind him, and everyone visibly relaxed.

“Right.”  The Lt. Commander.  “All right, there’s a small asteroid field in Sector 227, one of the scouts ships are going to go take a look…..um….”  He frowned in confusion, probably because his statpad screen said something completely different just a moment ago.  “ _Sulaco ,_ you’re up.”  At that the rest of the crew looked at each other, confused.

Not too much later the meeting broke up.  Yeave immediately turned and looked at her.  “That was you.”  It wasn’t a question.

Kemom and Leander joined them from their position groups.  “We’re an atmosphere scout.”  Leander complained.  “We’re not shielded for asteroids.”

“Make the best of it.”  Yeave said, still looking at Sarai.  “Just make sure we don’t die.”

The moment the two men turned away Sarai shrugged.  “We need time to talk.”  She said, “Off the ship.”

Yeave groaned.  “Why do I think I don’t want to know?”

* * *

 

“Okay, that’s amazing.”  Emily said with a smile.

They were at the all-District science fair.  Only the best entrants from each school were given a slot to compete.  One of Matt’s students in Physics had done an exhibit in Astronomy in which he had actually, beyond a shadow of a doubt, found a new planet in the Tau Ceti system.  “I know.  If he can win this he’s up for the White House Science Fair next month.”  Matt was just brimming with pride in his student. 

“Wow.”

“And he did it all by himself?”  Asked a deep voice behind them.

Emily turned to see an older black man, using a cane for balance, looking pointedly at Matt.  For a moment Matt looked supremely annoyed but he swallowed it back.  “Yes, actually, he did.”  He looked between the two of them and smiled.  “Emily Prentiss, Walter Sheppard, my guardian.”

Ah.  Emily offered her hand.  “I’m honored to meet you, sir.”

“And I am delighted.”  Just then one of the students called Matt away.  Mr. Sheppard offered her his arm in a courtly sort of way.  “Shall we look over the rest of the exhibits?”  He asked with a smile

It was easy to see where Matt got his charm.  Emily accepted the offer and they began a slow wander around the hall.  “So, how do you like DC?”  Emily asked.  When Mr. Sheppard looked over questioningly she smiled.  “Matt told me how you retired a few years ago to move out with him.”

“Ahhh,” Mr. Sheppard nodded.  “I actually find DC more comfortable than Los Angeles.  The cultural life is notably richer and it’s much easier to get around without having to drive.  What else did he tell you?”

Even though Mr. Sheppard was being pleasant and friendly there was something about his body language that spoke of concern, even a hint of fear.  He’s feeling me out, Emily thought, trying to see what I know, if I’m a threat.  “He told me how he came to the US.”  Bingo, Emily thought as Mr. Sheppard paused to look at her.  “Even if he hadn’t cleared it up with Immigration I wouldn’t turn you in, either of you.  What you did was heroic.”

Mr. Sheppard smiled a bit tightly.  “I’m afraid there are many out there who might disagree with you, my dear.”

“Oh, I doubt that.  Most people have some idea of how East Germany treated its citizens.”  She swore she felt him relax at that point.   “If I may ask, why did you do it?  I mean it was a huge risk.”

Mr. Sheppard’s smile was more relaxed as well.  “It was the only thing I could do.  I’d known Matthew’s father…Edward my entire life, we grew up together.  And I had no children of my own, removing his son from harm’s way was the most logical and honorable course of action.  Oh look at this one.”

Emily allowed him to change the subject while warning bells went off in her head,

* * *

 

“So he is that stupid.”  Yeave sighed.

“Yeah,” Sarai sighed and shifted course slightly.

“Can we get the rest of this conversation?”  Kemom asked.

Yeave looked at Sarai, who just shrugged.  “Sparky here got invited to one of Admiral Nox’s infamous dinners last night.  She turned him down.”

“Whoa.”  The guys blinked at each other.  “Did he try the whole Noble mind trick on you?”  Leander asked.

“Yeah, he did.”  Sarai said.

“What was it like?”

“Annoying.”

That confused them. Yeave sighed.  “The Admiral isn’t the only Noble left in the fleet.”   She tipped her head to Sarai.

“Seriously!”  Leander grinned, “Read my mind, what am I thinking?”

“You’re hungry.”  Sarai replied flatly.

Leander’s eyes widened.  “Whoa.”

Kemom smacked him on the arm.  “That doesn’t mean anything, you’re always hungry.”   He returned to his duty station, hunched over the scanners.  “You know what this does mean, don’t you?  If word gets out we might as well just paint a target on our tail ‘Meks aim here’.”

“Yeah, well, the way Nox was acting this morning he’d be willing to go there, even though he’d be the one getting the target.”  Sarai replied.  She inched the nose up so they would go up and over a goodly sized asteroid.  “How the hell am I supposed to go back there?”

“Hey guys.”  Kemom said.

“Well if he does take you in front of the League Council just override him.”  Yeave said.

“But the Genetics computer….”

“Guys?!”  Kemom said again

“The Genetics computer is not that sacred.”  Yeave replied.  “Just do what you did this morning with the statpad.”

“Okay it is not that easy.”  Sarai replied.  “You have to…”

“ _Captain_!”  Kemom yelled.  “Bogies at 12 ‘o’clock!”

“What?”  Yeave’s attention snapped back to the business at hand.  “Where?”

Sarai had strained up to look out the viewscreen.  Now her bright blue eyes grew wide.  “There.”

Just on the other side of the asteroid was a Mek slaver fleet.

“Turn it around!”  Yeave ordered, but Sarai already had the ship banking.  Yeave went straight to comm and opened the scrambled channel. “Carrier fleet Tanto!  Carrier fleet Tanto!  This is scout ship _Sulaco ,_ repeat this is scout ship _Sulaco ,_ Mek fleet spotted our location.  We have visual confirmation on five…”

“Six.”  Kemom said.

“Sarai, this ship won’t turn like this.”  Leander warned as the joints started to squeal.

“Yes it will.”  Sarai said too calmly as she _focused_ and forced the ship to remain whole.

“Correction six main ships at our location.  Am declaring an emergency, request immediate assistance.”  Yeave looked at the scanners herself; saw one of the huge slave ships breaking off to follow them.    Frak this, she thought, and opened up the channels.  “Mayday!  Mayday!  Mayday!  This is scout ship _Sulaco_ requesting assistance from any League ship.  We’ve got a Mek ship on our tail.  Need immediate assistance.  Mayday!  Mayday!  Mayday!”

The reply channel crackled to life.  “Scout ship _Sulaco_ this is fighter wing Delta Niner, we have you on visual, and are approaching from Sector 187.  Can you outrun them?”

Yeave looked to Leander who shook his head.  Then she looked to Sarai.  “Maybe,” the younger woman murmured, lost in trying to fly and keep the ship in one piece while she tried to fly through an asteroid field way too fast. 

“Don’t know yet fighter wing Delta Niner.  Get here as fast as you can.”  All of a sudden the small ship jerked hard, lost all its forward momentum.  Yeave felt her heart start falling a long way down.  Then the _Sulaco_ started flying backward.  “Fighter wing Delta Niner do you copy?  Fighter wing Delta Niner?”

“Tractor beam.”  Kemom said, looking up from his scanner with fear in his eyes.  “They’re too late.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 07**

Yeave awoke to find herself in a glass box.

She had the distinct memory of the _Sulaco_ being dragged in to some kind of ship’s bay, of being tethered to the wall, of some kind of rigging coming out and cracking the seal on the hatch despite Sarai’s best efforts, of a gas slowly filling the ship.  Past that she didn’t have anything.

Now she was standing in a glass box that would not let her sit or even squat.  It was supposed to be a stasis chamber but keeping people in stasis was too expensive so they were just left to burn in their own waste.  Beneath her feet was an open grid, and beneath that was constantly running fluid of some kind, the only hope she had of clean. Above her head was open grid work.  And hanging from the overhead plumbing was a tube that would, in theory, give liquid nutrients if sucked on.  And that was all.  Here she would stay until they got to their destination where slave buyers would walk the halls and pick from the survivors. 

Or here they thought she would stay.  Across from her were Kemom and Leander, each in their own chambers.  “Hey!”  She thumped the glass to get their attention.  “Where’s Sarai?”  She pointed to the chambers on either side of her.

But they shook their heads.  “Don’t see her from here Captain.”  Kemom called.

“Where do you think we are?”  Leander asked.

It was then that Yeave became aware of the subtle sensation of moving.  They were moving at hyperspeed.  “How long we were out?”  They both shrugged.  Great. 

Well, she thought, if Admiral Nox did suspect at least he would come after them.

* * *

 

“You had Garcia run a background check on Matt and his dad?”  JJ sounded surprised.  “Why?”

Emily sighed into her beer.  She and JJ were at Cactus Cantina, Garcia was on her way, there was Tex-Mex on the table, it was girl’s night.  God she had missed this.  “Because they didn’t have their stories straight,” she replied.  “On one of our first dates he confessed that he’d come to the US illegally.”

“From where?”

“East Germany.  He said that his guardian worked for his father’s company; that they had for generations.”

“Some pre-war multi-national?”

“That’s what he implied but he never said which one, and there were still a few doing business right through the Cold War period.  He said Shep was from here and that’s why he brought him here, and that his parents were then killed by the Stasi.”

“Ouch.”

“But then Shep said that he and Matt’s father Edward had grown up together.  Now Shep looks to be somewhere between 60 and 70…”

“Which would mean he was born between, what, 1945-55?”

“…which would mean if Walther Schäfer and Eduard Stern grew up together then Walther Schäfer had to defect to become Walter Sheppard and he wouldn’t be going back into East Germany on business so he could take little Mathias Stern to safety.  And Walther Schäfer most likely having an American father would not have helped matters.”  Emily sighed again.  “I don’t know, maybe it does add, but it’s just hinky enough to make me want to check.”

“Sorry I am late!”  Garcia breezed in.  “But I wanted to finish that check before I got here.”

“What did you get?”  Emily asked as JJ scooted over.

“Okay, so everything from when Matt was about six months old to now is mostly completely legit for both of them.   I do not know how Mr. Sheppard funded their early years unless he worked off the books, but when little Matthew was old enough to enroll in the campus preschool Walter Sheppard started at CSU-LA, he got all the grant money he could, worked part-time as maintenance man on campus, got his degree in physics and his teaching credential and went into teaching.  And I swear that man has never so much as gotten a parking ticket.  Complete solid citizen.”

“So far so good,” JJ murmured.

“They moved to the Crestview neighborhood, which is solidly middle class, Matt attended public school all the way through, got reasonably good grades, played football in high school, quarterback of course, and even dated a cheerleader.  The boy was a walking stereotype.  The one hinky thing is that from preschool through college Mr. Sheppard always taught at the same school Matt was attending.”

“Matt said he was paranoid.”  Emily pointed out.

“Could have been watching out for him,” JJ replied.

“Attended UCLA on a football scholarship, which he lost in his third year when he blew out his elbow, ouch.  Finished there, degree in mathematics with honors; got his own teaching credential and then a Master in Educational theory.  The year Mr. Sheppard retired, Matt took the job at St. Alban’s and they moved out here.  They live in a little place over in Cleveland Park, not far from the Metro station, which is paid for in Mr. Sheppard’s name.”

“Sounds perfect,” JJ said, “If you want to settle down.”

“Yeah, too perfect,” Emily fretted.

“Yeah, well, here’s the thing.”  Garcia stopped them.  “Walter Sheppard was born in 1946 in Los Angeles and then wasn’t heard from again until he rented an apartment in LA when Matt was six months.  No employment records, no educational records, nothing on his social, no taxes, he just doesn’t exist.  Now it’s possible that it just hasn’t been digitized yet, I mean there are huge gaps in anything older than 1980….”

“Or it’s a false identity.”  Emily sagged.  Crap.  Now what?

“That would mean that the real Walter Sheppard is lying in a grave somewhere.  LA did have a major polio epidemic go through in 1949. Which unfortunately killed several hundred children, many of them African-American.”

“That’s how they used to do it.”  Emily spotted the question on JJ’s face.  “Before everything went to computer you’d find a dead child who was close to your age and fit your description, buy a fake birth certificate, and then go tell Social Security that your mother lost your card; instant new identity.”

“And that was in the hippy days when women were starting the whole homebirth craze, so he could have just gotten a birth certificate for Matthew and then moved on.”  Garcia added.

“So what are you going to do?”  JJ asked.

Emily pondered this question while the main course came.  “Nothing,” she replied.  “Whatever happened, it was thirty some odd years ago.  Since then they’ve both done everything they could to be decent, upright citizens.  It’s behind them.  And god knows I have dated guys with much hinkier pasts before.  I’m just not going to worry about it.”

“What if it comes back to haunt them?”

Emily took a pull on her beer and looked at JJ.  “Like Ian?”

JJ chuckled.  “Good point.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 08**

There was no way to tell time in the slave cells.  Yeave’s chronometer had been damaged somewhere, and asking the guys quickly became asking every ten minutes, so she stopped that.  She kept trying to think in Sarai’s direction, knowing her friend could do something, but her mind was just not evolved enough to transmit.  Receive without going insane, yes, but not transmit.

She’d never really regretted that before.

After she’d been in there long enough to actually consider tasting the nutrient mix something changed.  For a moment she thought she felt some kind of subtle ripple go through the box around her.  Probably something shifted in the engines, she thought.

A few moments later it happened again.  This time she distinctly saw a small ripple pass through the wall of the box.

A few moments later it happened again.  This time it was clear, noticeable.  Everything rippled like a wave passed through.  “What was that?”  Leander called as all around them slaves shook off their torpor and murmured.

At first Yeave didn’t know, she didn’t….but then it came to her and her heart sank.  “Cover your faces!”  She called to the guys.  She covered her face with the thick cloth of her uniform jacket and waited.  Please no, she thought.  Please.

But a few moments later it happened.  A sound like a scream rent the air, followed quickly by a wave of destruction.  It was like a bomb going off, glass shattered, wiring was torn apart, seams and seals popped like elastic bands as the entire ship shook itself hard.  Yeave felt the glass around her shatter, felt the shards of it spray off the outside of her jacket, heard the sudden cacophony of stressed metal and breaking glass and hundreds of people screaming.

As soon as the immediate wave passed she kicked out the rest of the door and met the guys on the catwalk between the rows of cells.  “You two okay?”  She asked.

Leander’s cell had fallen over, now his forearm had a distinctly misshapen look.  “Think I broke it, Captain.”  He said through gritted teeth.

Could be worse.  “You’ll  live.”  Yeave told him. 

“What was that?”  Kemom asked.

“Later.”  Yeave told them.  “Come on.”  Where to go was easy to sort, the destruction was directional; all they had to do was follow it back to the center of the outburst.  All around them slaves were breaking free and moving to help each other.  Leander and Kemom clearly wanted to stop and help.  “Leave them!”   She said; an uncharacteristic sharp order.  “We find Sarai, now!”

“But we have to…”

“Now!”

Out in the main corridor they encountered two Mek guards. The android warriors with their liquid metal skins bristled with weapons and torture devices but they weren’t moving.  A close inspection revealed that they were dead.  “What happened?”  This time Leander asked.

“Later.”  Yeave said again.  “Come on.”  They raced on in the direction of the damage, past even more dead Meks.  It all seemed to center on this one section, this one corridor, this one room, there.  They pried open the doors and found a room with a ring of stasis chambers and people helping each other out of them, all unclothed.  In the center were a number of areas that held what appeared to be torture devices, now piles of scrap, and for the first time, bodies.  Five Olan, distinct with their grey-green skins, lay in heaps around the room.  It appeared that they had literally exploded, torn apart by the wave of destruction. 

In one of the piles of scrap they found Sarai.

She was unconscious, naked like the others.  Of more concern was the thin tube that ran into the artery in her thigh, a tube that must have been delivering something straight to her blood.  Yeave pulled that out and gently wrapped her friend in her jacket.  “Can you take her?”  She asked the sturdy Kemom.  In reply he carefully gathered her up into his arms.  “Let’s get back to the ship and get out of here.  We’ll pilot as best we can.”

“Captain…”  Leander said as he looked around.

Yeave sighed.  Her people were good, she’d chosen well.  Of course they would realize that the damage to this vast ship centered on Sarai.  “Later.”  She said once again.  “First we get out of here.”

* * *

 

They were over at Dave’s for a barbeque, the whole family.  Hotch was there with Jack, JJ with Will and Henry, Reid, Garcia, Blake, Morgan.  And Emily, after some deliberation, had brought Matt.  Now in an effort to provide family style fun they were playing charades.  Given that profilers were very good at reading body language, the competition was tight.

Morgan, however, was the master.  He stood up and faced his team, which consisted of him and Garcia, Emily and Matt, Dave and Reid.  He drew the traditional box in the air.  “TV Show” They guessed.  Five fingers, “Five words.”  First word, one syllable, he indicated himself.  “Boy?  Guy?  Man!”  Fifth word, sounds like, he mimed anger, yelling,   “Anger?  Crying?  Rage?”  Rage.  Sounds like rage.  He hunched over and mimed something being placed up and down before him, like a man walking with a cane…”Age?  Man of a Certain Age?”

“You got it.”  Morgan said with a grin, putting them three ahead of the other team.

Just then everyone’s phone went off.  “Work,” Hotch said with a sigh.  “Amber alert.  We have to go.  Will, will you take Jack home until I can call Jessica?”

“’Course.”

“Anything we can do to help?”  Matt asked.  “Even the dishes?”

“They’re done.”  Dave replied.  “Sorry to have to run out like this.”

“No, we understand.”  They all left then.  Emily found herself standing beside Matt’s car as the team took off and Will took the boys home.  She just…sighed.

“You wish you were going with them, don’t you?”  Matt asked.

Emily turned to look at him.  There was such care in his voice, such concern in his eyes, somehow she knew he would just accept that this was something she needed, and he would never be a casualty of the job.  In that moment she realized just how she was feeling about him.  In that moment she felt that first fire.  “I admit it, I miss the adventure.”

All of a sudden he seemed to catch the spark that she’d felt herself give off.  “How much adventure do you want?”

Maybe it was that need for adventure.  Maybe he was just right.  Maybe it was a lot of things but for some reason Emily took a deep breath and jumped.  “This much,” she said as she stepped into his arms and pressed her lips to his.

“Emily.”  He murmured when the kiss broke.  “There may be a lot of adventure there.”

She just smiled.  “Bring it on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feed my comment addiction. Thank you.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 09**

All the Meks were dead, and what few Olan they saw had been literally shredded alive.  “How?”  Leander asked at one point.

“Later.”  Yeave said again.  The closer they got to the launch bay the more people there were in the corridors.  Eventually they were swept into the launch bay with the crowd.  There, attached to a high catwalk, was the _Sulaco_ , thankfully unnoticed so far.  They hurried to it and Yeave locked the hatch behind them.  “Shouldn’t we take survivors?”  Kemom said as he lowered Sarai onto the bunk in their tiny sick bay.

“Not this time.”  Yeave grabbed a stimulus capsule out of the first aid kit and moved to check on her friend.  Sarai’s pulse was slow but steady, she seemed to be breathing all right, but even the sharp scent of the broken capsule passed under her nose did nothing to rouse her.  “Come on, sparky, wake up.”

Just then the entire ship lurched.  “What was that?”  Leander asked.

Kemom ran to the scanners.  “Friendly fire,” he replied.  “The League Armada is right outside.”  Just then the ship lurched again.

Yeave ran to the comm station.  “Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is the scout ship _Sulaco._ Can anyone hear me out there?”

The ship shook again, and the people outside wailed.  “Scout ship _Sulaco_ , this is the carrier _Treve_ , we read you and have your location.”

“Stop firing on our location _Treve_ , we have people in the launch bay.  Repeat, people in the open launch bay.” 

“Roger that.”  The shaking stopped.  “What’s your status _Sulaco_?”

“The ship around us is damaged and unmanned.  All Meks are down.  We have a number of refugees trying to escape the vessel in all available craft.  Prepare for rescue.”

“Roger that.”  There was quiet a moment.  “What’s the status of your pilot _Sulaco?”_

Shit.  “I can’t hear you _Treve_ , repeat that.”

“What’s the status of your pilot, _Sulaco_?”

“I can’t hear you, you’re breaking up.”  Yeave reached up and turned off the comm.  She looked back at Kemom.  “I need options.  Is there any planet nearby?”

Kemom checked the scanner.  “Only the Omicrom system,” he replied, “Ten parsecs out.”

Whoa.  Yeave considered this.  It was risky, sure, but what were her options.  “All right.”  She looked out the window and noted that the last of the survivors were getting into the stolen ships.  “Get us ready to move.”  As soon as everyone was put away the klaxons sounded.  A few moments later the ships slowly began leaving, right into the waiting arms of the League armada, which was battling with the slaver fleet all around them. “I’m setting a course for the Omicrom system.”

She felt the two men look at her.  “Captain?”  Kemom asked.

“Just trust me.”  She replied.  She nudged the throttle and joined the mass of ships leaving the slaver.  But when they all headed for the _Treve_ , the Admiral’s flag ship, she turned and flew away.

* * *

 

Okay, Emily though as she contemplated the ceiling.  Matt Star is kind, he is caring, he is good to his family and to his students, he’s polite, a gentleman, and an all around nice guy.  He’s stable, hard working and an all around good citizen.  Add to that he’s gorgeous, built like a Greek god and absolutely fucking amazing in bed. 

She felt the bed shift as he returned from the bathroom.  “Wine?”  He asked as he poured a glass.

“Sure.”  She’d never felt this good in her life.  Sure, she’d had some good lovers before, Ian, of all people, came to mind, and that one time with Mick…well, maybe not a good example.  But none of them had ever managed an experience that felt so all-encompassing before.  It had been like he had known exactly what felt the best before even her body language responded, almost like he was reading her mind.  But at the same time, she’d never felt so cared for before, like she’d finally found someone who was bigger in some way, more of a bad ass, and all that power was there just for her, wrapped around her somehow, making her safe enough to really let go.  She almost didn’t want to move and have that feeling end.

But move she did, eventually, to roll and accept the wine he offered.  She found that the feeling didn’t go away; it was rekindled the moment she looked into those impossibly blue eyes.  “I know, you know.”  She murmured before she realized what was coming out of her mouth.  “No, never mind, I didn’t mean to say that now.”

“You know what?”

“That you’re not East German.”  She sighed.  “I admit I’m curious.”

He winced a little and sipped at his wine.  “Why so curious?”

“Because of this.  Because I….”  Damn it, she was falling in love with him.

He just smiled, “You too, huh?”

“I think so.”

“Well, you wanted an adventure.”

She chuckled a little.  Wasn’t love the greatest adventure?  “True.  So where are you from?”

He chuckled a little.  “Los Angeles.”

“Matt…”

“Emily, my oldest memory is of riding the flying elephants at Disneyland.  I’ve been here since I was six months old, what does it matter now?’

“Because, Shep was clearly trying to protect you, which means there was a threat out there.  And besides, you’re lying about the elephants.” Something in his body language gave it away.

Matt stilled a moment.  “My first memory is of my mother.  There were bright lights going off behind her head and loud noises and she was crying.  Everyone around me was afraid.”  He admitted.  “And then I remember a lot of water and being pulled from it.  And then I remember Shep’s hands and knowing love.  And then I remember the elephants.”

Emily considered this.  “Sounds like you were a refugee from a war.”  She said, “But where?”

“I don’t know, Shep never told me.  He just said that they wanted my family dead and my father was his friend so he left his family, his brother and sister-in-law behind, to get me to safety.  But I don’t know where we were running from.” 

Everything held together, she thought, from when he was just a baby to now.   But before then it was still a mystery.  One thing she did know.  “You’re lying again.”  She said.

He set his wine down and looked at her.  “You don’t want that much adventure.”

“What if they come after you?”

“I doubt they even remember I exist.”

* * *

 

“Why are we heading to the Omicrom system?”  Kemom asked.  “We can’t fly through the debris field around it.”

Yeave smiled.  The Omicrom system was the closest to their native Quadris, but it had never been explored, or so everyone believed.  It was surrounded by a debris field that gave off a magnetic charge that killed any active computer that entered it, making navigating impossible.  Even sensors or scopes couldn’t penetrate the field.  “Yes we can.”

“What?”

“That’s just a legend, Yeave.”  Leander said.

“What legend?”  Kemom asked.

“They say that a royal cartographer found a way through the debris field once.  That he found a habitable planet in there, but for some reason the Royal family didn’t tell anyone.  It’s bullshit.”

They were getting closer.  “Kemom, shift the color filter on the viewscreen to 33.2 degrees.”  Yeave said.

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

Kemom sighed and started shifting the viewscreen’s filter.  At precisely 33.2 a blinking beacon appeared on the edge of the field.  “What the…”

“What is it?”  Leander asked.

“It’s a navigator beacon.”

“Shut all computer systems down, gentleman.”  Yeave ordered.  This had to be done by sight alone.  “We can’t go back to the Meks and we can’t go back to the Admiral, so we’re going to disappear.”

“And then what?”  Leander asked as they started shutting everything down.

“We’re going to find the King.”

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2
> 
> For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
> 
> \- Vincent Van Gogh

 

**Chapter 10**

Yeave sighed and relaxed as they finally cleared the debris field.  It had taken hours of slow, careful navigating, finding the narrow channel strictly by sight.  But she had done it, and once inside all around here was nothing but empty space.  No movement of ship, no beacons, nothing.

“Damn.”  Kemom said as he and Leander, his arm now in a splint, came to look out the viewscreen.  “You did it.”

“Yeah.  Now let’s start rebooting the ship.”’

“No, let’s start talking Yeave.  What the hell happened back there and how the hell did you know how to get in to here.”  Kemom was clearly voicing the frustration of both men.

Yeave sighed, there was no choice, she had to come clean.  “Back before the start of the war my family was the royal physicians, companions to the House of Dragons. The legend is true, a team of royal cartographers did find a habitable planet in here, and the royal family did conceal its existent to use as a retreat in times of crisis.”

“So why didn’t they?”  Kemom asked.

“They did.  They sent my uncle here with the Crown Prince, back when the Meks first attacked.  They were never heard from again.”

“And since King Eldrak was murdered…”  He started.

Murdered.  Every citizen of Quadris saw his execution at the hands of the Olan as nothing more than cold blooded murder.  “…Crown Prince Ehawk is now King.”

“Okay, but why are we looking for him now?”

“It’s not so much him; I just hope we can find my uncle.  He was the last royal physician.”  She sighed and looked at Sarai’s still form in the couch.  “If we take her back like she is now then I’m afraid Nox…”

Just then she saw the penny drop.  “Shit!”  Leander said, scrambling away from the couch.

“Oh relax.”  Yeave told him.  “If she wanted to blast your brains out your nose she would have done it years ago.”

“Yeah, she would have.”  Kemom said. “I’ve been tempted a few times.”  He looked back at Yeave. “The King only had one child.” 

But Yeave shook her head and looked at Sarai again.  I’m sorry old friend, she thought, but it’s time.  “Queen Annana was pregnant when he went to the gallows.  Her mother, Madrig, and my mother, raised…the Princess.  We’re close to the same age so I got the job of royal companion.”

“And that’s what happened on the slaver.”  Kemom looked at Sarai wide eyes.  “She lost control.”

“Yeah.  And I’m not sure I want to know why.”

“Wait a minute; if you’re the royal companion, then you outrank Nox.”  Leander pointed out.

“Yeah, when Sarai turns thirty, _next_ rotation.  Right now the League Council is acting as regent; they would be able to order her around if they knew who she was.”

“And Nox controls the Council.”  Kemom nodded.  “I see the problem here.”

 “And nobles don’t go to Genetics like the rest of us, they don’t get implants, they have sexual relations the old-fashioned way.”  Both men shuddered at the thought.  “I don’t think Nox would let her being comatose or injured slow him down.”

“Ew.”  Leander winced.

“Yeah, we can’t go back.”  Kemom nodded.  “So we go forward.  You think your uncle can help?”

“Uncle Dhai was physician to King Eldrak and his chief advisor, he’d probably forgotten more about politics than we’ll ever learn.”  Yeave sighed.  “If anyone can figure it out he can.  And if we’re really lucky we’ll find King Ehawk as well, and he won’t be a jerk about his sister.  If either of you has any other ideas speak up now.”  They both shook their heads.  “All right, then re-boot the ship and set a course for the third planet from the star in this system.  When we get there we’ll enter into orbit and start scanning for comantium.”

“Comantium?”  Leander asked.  “That’s only found on Quadris.”

“King Bertram gave my uncle a comantium chronometer when he graduated university.  He never took it off.  It should be the only comantium on the planet.  When we track it we’ll land someplace close where we can hide the ship, then you two stay here and guard it while I sneak in and find Uncle Dhai.”

“Yeah, that’s a workable plan, I guess.”  Kemom set about turning the ship’s computers back on.  “Does this planet have a name?”

“The natives call it Terra.”  Yeave said.  “Earth.”

  


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

It was a good thing that the hotel had room service because Matt ended up staying the week-end. 

At the time she swore they talked about everything.  She told him about her father leaving, her mother all but abandoning her, what happened with Ian , about another Matthew and what happened in Rome.  She told him everything and because she could tell that he really listened, he actually cared.  The questions he asked were both gentle and meaningful and made her feel like she was the most important thing in his life at that moment.  Later she would realize that he spoke too, of responsibility and frustration and a deep longing for something else that mattered almost more than anything and that he could never have.  She understood, somehow, that he was expressing a deep desire to serve something so much greater than himself, the same need that drove her to her career, but that somehow he could never achieve.  She felt his frustration, and in that felt the heart of his love.

But even with all of that, and with how he drove her body to new heights over and over again, she still felt like he was holding something back.  “I don’t understand.”  She said at one point, sitting against the headboard, wrapped in the sheet, cradling her tea in her palms.  “You said they’ve forgotten you by now, why not try to go home?”

“I can’t.”  He replied from where he was sprawled next to her.  “I can’t get there from here.”

“Why not?”

He leaned up on his elbow and reached up to gently cup her cheek and looked into her eyes and she swore right into her soul.  “How much adventure do you want?”  He asked.

Just then her phone rang.  But the number on the screen wasn’t really a number.  All of a sudden her heart started hammering, why would he call her now.  “Hello?”

“How did the ancient Greeks measure time?”  Asked a cultured voice on the end.

Emily set her tea aside and swallowed.  It was her old boss, not from Interpol or the FBI or even the JTF.  No, from before.  “By the kalends.”  She gave the reply.  “Why are you calling me Charles?”

“Because we need you, my dear.  You’re being re-activated.”

“Now?  This can’t wait until morning?”

“No, it cannot.  Emily…”  Charles paused for a deep breath that set every alarm in her head shrieking.  “…The Defense Department has invoked a Protocol.”

Oh.  Shit.  The last time they invoked a Protocol Nichols was playing with Anthrax.  “Which one?”

“I don’t know.  They wouldn’t tell me.”  Oh _shit_.  “You’re the only one we have with the correct clearances who’s close enough and not on assignment.  Now tell your gentleman friend that we’ll cover the room through the week-end if he likes and be downstairs with a bag packed for sleeping rough in twenty minutes.”

“Yes, sir.”  She hung up and looked at Matt.  “I…have to go to work.”

“Emily.”  He was sitting up now, picking up on her emotions.  “Are you all right?”

“Yes.  No.  Shit.  It’s…”  She moved to get up; turned to him and now it was her turn to cup his cheek.  “I don’t want to go.”  She said.  “I want to stay, but….”

He smiled in a way that showed his delight.  “But you have to, I get it.”  He reached around and pulled her in and kissed with all the joy the world could hold.  “Come back to me.”  He said.  “And I’ll show you a real adventure.”

I will, she thought, I will come back to him.  But there’s no way his adventure will be anything like what’s waiting downstairs.

* * *

 

There was something refreshing about a successfully resolved Amber Alert, Spencer thought as they returned to the office.  Just knowing that a child was home safe and the parents were happy and the bad guy was in jail kind of put a little spring in your step.

That spring lasted right until they walked into the BAU and encountered Strauss standing there with two Air Force lieutenants, not what you expected at 3 in the morning.  “What is this?”  Hotch asked.

“They’re here for Drs. Reid and Blake.”  Strauss said.  “They arrived while you were in the air.”

Spencer looked over at Alex, who was looking back at him.  “What is this about, gentlemen?”

“We need you both to come with us, Ma’am.”  One of the lieutenants said. 

“Why?”

“Protocol 3372 has been invoked.”

Blake chuckled.  “Right.”  She headed to one of the desk phones.  “This is either a poorly timed drill or a joke.”

“Ma’am…”

“I’m not going anywhere until I confirm this.”

Hotch turned to look at Spencer, along with the rest of the team.  “Protocol 3372?”

“It’s a contingency plan.  Without getting into detail…”  He reassured the nervous lieutenants.  “…the government has protocols, contingency plans, written up for just about any kind of incident you can imagine.  They sit in binders and gather dust most of the time.”

“Most of the time?”   Rossi asked.

“Well, sometimes they need them.  Remember the Nichols case?”  They all nodded their understanding, but a tension filled the room as they realized what kind of thing he was talking about.  “Back before I joined the BAU I helped revise one.  Actually Blake and I worked on it together, that was how we met.  And, um, how I put the deposit on Bennington.”

“So it’s been gathering dust for fourteen years?” 

“Pretty much.”

“Spencer.”  They all looked over at Blake.  She’d gone white as a sheet and her eyes were far too wide.  “It’s…it’s confirmed.”

Spencer felt all the blood run out of his face.

Blake turned back to the phone.  “I cannot respond…I no longer fit the physical parameters….well, I’m sorry, we all grow older…No, Dr. Reid can handle the work for both of us…yes, I’m sure…he’ll be leaving shortly.”  She hung up and came back over.  “You can do this.”  She said.  “I have every faith.”

“He’s not going alone!”  Morgan said.

“Yes, he is.”  She replied.  “He’s perfectly qualified and besides, you don’t have the clearance.”

By now Spencer was moving.  He headed to the locker room and swapped out his go bags, trailing a small parade of concerned friends.  “Garcia,” He said when he could speak again.  “That recording I made for my Mom…”

“I still have it.”  She said, “But you won’t need it.”

“Probably not.  I guess I’lll see you guys in a few days.”  Brave words but there were hugs all around for both of them.  He held JJ the longest, whispered to her, but within moments he had to go.

He didn’t know if he should run in fear, or jump for joy. 

“Hey.”  Blake called after him.  “No leaving us behind.”

Them.  Mom.  No, he couldn’t go that far.  “I won’t.”  He waved and headed off with a smile on his face.

* * *

 

The team stood there staring at the elevators for a few moments.  “Son of a bitch!”  Morgan said in frustration.

“How bad do you think it is?”  Garcia asked.

“Bad.”  JJ replied.  Her eyes were too big and full of tears.  “He said if he had to he’d find a way to get word so we could get Jack and Henry to safety.”

Rossi looked at Blake.  “I’m guessing you can’t tell us?”

“I’m not supposed to, no.”  She said.  “And it might be nothing at all.”

Rossi looked at the rest of them.  “Let’s hope for nothing at all.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Hopefully this will help things make a bit more sense.
> 
> References to the "Nichols's Case" are to 04x24 "Amplification"


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

The car that met Emily was driven by two Air Force lieutenants.  When they arrived one of them stepped out, asked to see her ID, and then let her in the car.  They drove silently through the city for a while.  “Can you tell me where we’re going?”  She asked.

“I’m afraid not, Ma’am.”

“Can you tell me what’s going on?”

“Sorry, Ma’am.”

“I’m supposed to be briefed…”

“I understand there’s to be a briefing when you arrive, Ma’am.”

Emily sighed and gave up.

They drove north and east, into Maryland, sticking to major streets, driving without a single pause.  Eventually they did slow, and took a left turn into the Goddard Space Flight Center.  “NASA?”  She asked.  What the hell?

“Yes. Ma’am.”

They pulled up to their destination directly behind another car.  What the hell?  “Hey.”  Emily called out, “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Emily.”  Spencer said.  “What are you doing here?”

“The, um, Company I worked for before asked me to come as their representative.”

It took Spencer a moment.  “Oh, that Company.  I didn’t think they’d be interested in something like this.”

“They’re interested in everything.  So, what’s going on?”

“Um…”  Spencer couldn’t help it; he felt that excited grin taking over his face.  “Inside.  We’re meeting in a SCIFF.”

They had to go through a security checkpoint on the way in, complete with a metal detector and one of those near to x-ray monitors and a full check of their bags.  “Please leave all electronic devices here, computers and communications equipment will be provided for you.”  The guard said.  “Taking any personal electronic devices beyond this point will be considered an act of treason.”

“Treason?”  Emily asked, more than a little surprised.

“Yes, Ma’am, you can leave your luggage here, Ma’am, it will be taken to your final destination.”

“Right.”  They were directed down a hallway that grew increasingly busy as they went on.  “Reid, what the hell is going on?”

“They’ve invoked a Protocol, a contingency plan…”  Reid began.

“Yeah, like for Nichols, I got that.  But what’s the crisis?”

But they were at the room where they were meeting now, and they were quickly shuffled in to join about eight other people at a conference table.  The room overlooked a space that looked a lot like Mission Control, where something was being tracked on big, overhead screens and a lot of people were staring nervously at computers.  “Introductions later,” said the Air Force General who was apparently chairing the meeting.  We don’t have time.  As you all know we have invoked Protocol 3372.  Since you were all called in the threat has been confirmed.”

“We don’t know that it’s a threat yet,” said a slender man who practically screamed scientist.

“Just to be on the safe side we have to assume it is.”  The General replied.

“Reacting aggressively in this situation could actually provoke an aggressive response.”  Reid pointed out.

The entire room launched into an argument that had clearly just been placed on hold since their last meeting.  “Hey!  Hey!  Hey!”  Emily interrupted them, waving her arms for attention.  “Could someone start at the beginning for the newbies, please?”

The room took a deep breath and settled.  The General launched into a presentation, pulling up some kind of pictures on his screen while a lackey started passing out tablets.  “Approximately four hours ago the Deep Space Monitoring Network picked up an object entering our solar system.”

“An object?”  Emily asked.  “Comet?  Asteroid?”

The General ignored the question for now and continued.  “It remained stable somewhere between Pluto and Neptune for approximately one hour and then started heading this way.   According to our best estimates it’s traveling at approximately three-quarters light-speed, meaning it will reach a point where it could enter Earth orbit in approximately three hours time.”

Wait.  Emily suddenly found her mind staring to stutter with the implications of what that could…“What does that?”  she asked.

One of the other men sitting at the table looked at her, “Nothing natural.”

Emily took the tablet and opened what looked like the first of the documents contained there.  It was the first section of Protocol 3372, entitled ‘A Contingency Plan For The Arrival Of Extraterrestrial Beings On Or Near The Planet Earth.’

Oh boy.

“Aliens?”  

“Yep,” the General confirmed.  “There is an alien ship in the solar system and it’s headed this way.  And we are the team that’s going to meet them.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

After that the meeting veered off into technical details and then broke up into small knots of different disciplines.  Emily didn’t have a small knot so she joined Spencer.  “Ok, so I’m here to…take notes.  Why are you here again?”

 “Linguistics, specifically what we’ve been calling numerical linguistics, the idea is that since math is a constant we should be able to use mathematical concepts to open communication.”

 “What was Blake supposed to cover?”  She asked. 

“Non-numerical linguistics.”

Emily just gaped at him.  “Wait, you two were supposed to try to communicate with them?”

“Well not just us, there were others, but we’re talking college professors fifteen years ago, they have a maximum age limit due to the time they expect us to be in bio-containment.  Everyone else on the linguistics team has aged out.  Anyway that’s the idea.”  Spencer nodded.  “Figure out why they’re here, what they want.  When you think about it it’s just a form of profiling.”

“Profiling?”  Emily groaned.  “You want me to help you profile the aliens so we can figure out how to communicate with them?”

“Pretty much, you have experience and you are a linguist and I really need someone else on my team.”  Spencer held up the appropriately colored badge with a sheepish smile and looked at Emily.  “You wanted an adventure.”

Emily winced.  This was crazy.  This was impossible.  But…but…she took the damned badge.  How could she say no?

Time slowed to the expected crawl as they drank crappy coffee and ate lousy boxed meals.  But that ship kept getting closer.  “It appears to be approximately two-thirds the size of the Space Shuttle.”  Someone finally determined.

“That’s probably not some kind of attack ship.”  Someone else said.  “It’s too small.”

“It could be a spy plane.”  The General pointed out, “Scouting ahead for the big bad boys behind it.”

“I doubt the big bad boys could make it through the Kuiper belt.”  One of the astronomers replied.  “I’m surprised this thing made it through.”

“That what?”  The General asked.

“The Kuiper belt is a debris field that surrounds the solar system.  It extends out approximately fifty times the mean Earth–Sun distance.  We think it might be magnetically active as well.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning it would block all radar and any potentially other kind of scanning equipment as well as damage any advanced circuitry that went through it, while at the same time the asteroids and other objects would pose a hull-penetration hazard.  That thing might have been small enough to find a route through but nothing larger would make it.”

“So you’re saying we have a natural security wall that should keep visitors out.”

“Yes, sir. “

Emily spoke up.  “You’re also saying that whoever is flying that had to come in using visual navigation only, and they were at it for a while, right?”  The scientist nodded.  “That’s got to take some hard-core determination and endurance.  Whatever they’re here for must be pretty important for them to risk it.”

The General nodded.  “Good point.”

Sometime later they got a call from the International Space Station.  “Go ahead Commander.”  The General said.

A video link came up of a man literally floating.  “It just went right by us.”  He said.  “We were able to get a decent look at it.”

“Did they see you at all?”

“No, I believe we were hidden in shadow.  We’re sending pictures and data now.”

A moment later they had their first look at the ship.  It was a stubby wedge of a thing, a well-battered grey, with some kind of red writing on the sides.  Reid immediately latched on to any picture with writing and started trying to make sense of it.  “Look at that.”  Someone said in awe.

“What?”  Asked the General.

“Those wings have flaps, sir.  This is designed to operate inside an atmosphere.”

As they waited and watched, the ship settled into orbit.  It settled in at the North Pole over North America, thankfully, and started flying back and forth over the land. “Could it be seen from the ground?”  The General asked.

“Not with the naked eye.”  Someone replied.  “It might be using daylight as a cover; it’s not going into the areas still dark.  And they must have some kind of shielding; they’re not showing up on radar at all.”

Back and forth, back and forth and then it switched positions and started flying a north-south route.   “What’s it doing?”  Someone asked.

“That’s not a spy pattern.”  Someone else replied.  “It’s not targeting the denser areas.”

“No, but it is familiar.”  Spencer said.  “Can you flatten out the map?  Maybe Mercator?”  They changed the graphic to show the ship flying against a flat background.

All of a sudden it clicked.  “That’s a grid search pattern.”  Emily said.  “They’re looking for something, like you would check a crime scene for evidence.”

“What are they looking for?”   The General asked.

“Not a clue.”

“But it looks like they’re running a pretty basic algorithm for their search pattern.”  Spencer pointed out.  He moved to one of the computers and started keying in a something.  “We should be able to extrapolate where they’re going next and if they break pattern we’ll know they found it.”  A moment later he put the estimate up on the screen next to the graphic showing the ships actual path.

Time slowed to a crawl once again as they watched the ship work the search pattern.  Spencer’s predictive pattern held true, they quartered Canada and then went to work over the upper US.  Whatever they were looking for it wasn’t found in Portland or Seattle, Minneapolis or St, Paul, Chicago or Detroit, Boston or New York or any of the points in between.  There was a palpable sense of concern as it passed over military bases and missile silos, but it didn’t even pause for any of them.  As they watched it finished that grid over Northern California and began its next series of east-west strips.  It slowly crawled over Salt Lake City, Denver, the vast plains of the heartland, Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York City.  And then out over the Atlantic it made a large right turn and started coming back.  “They’re about to go overhead.”  Someone said.

“Anyone else feel the urge to go out and look up?”  Emily asked.

As they watched the ship cruised over Washington DC proper and they all held their breaths.   And now it will go on, she thought, to St. Louis and Kansas City and back toward San Francisco.

But it didn’t.

As they watched the ship broke pattern, and turned in a tight bank over West Virginia.  “When did it change course?”  The general asked.

“Right after it passed over DC, Sir.”

“What part of DC, can we tell?”

The map focused in on the ships track.  “Not that far past the White House, Sir.”

“Sir!”  One of the techs got the Generals attention.  “It’s losing altitude.  It’s landing.”

“Well get some fighters up to escort it down, see if they can guide it to a base somewhere.”  The General snapped.  “I don’t want this thing landing on the White House lawn.”  He looked at the assembled scientists and experts.  “All right people, time to go to work.” 


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

“I still say this would be a lot easier if we had external sensors.”  Kemom grumbled.

“I’m telling you, they were off!”  Leander insisted.

Yeave sighed.  Try as the might they had not been able to reboot the complete external sensor array after going through the Omicrom belt. They’d rigged one scanner to find cromantum but otherwise they had to fly blind.  So she’s planted the ship at the pole, set the controls to run a search pattern that followed the light, and closed the viewscreen filters to keep out the radiation this close to the star.  “It doesn’t matter; we’re not going to run in to anything up here.”

“How do you know?”  Kemom asked.

“Because when the royal cartographers got here a hundred rotations ago they barely had atmospheric flight going.  They were still using preserved fuel for it.  There’s no way an isolated civilization could progress that fast.”  She sighed and looked over toward the bunk where Sarai still lay motionless.  “Anytime you want to wake up and help us, princess.”

She wasn’t surprised by the lack of reply.

”What do you think they did to her?”  Kemom asked.

“I don’t want to think about that right now.”  Yeave replied.  But Sarai had lost it, bad enough to destroy an entire freaking slaver ship, trash all the Meks and literally implode their Olan masters  She did not want to think about what might have shattered her friend that much.

Leander, bless him, tried to make light of it, “Never thought I’d be flying the Royal barge around.”

“Hey, stow that, man!”  Kemom told him.  “It’s just Sarai.  Knowing this doesn’t change anything.”

“I was just joking!”  Leander insisted.

“Hey, guys.”  Great, now her crew was hitting the stress line.  “Just relax, all right.  You’re right, it’s just Sarai.  She never wanted to be anything special unless she could do something good with it.  But if we do get my uncle and the King on board try not to act like idiots.”

Kemom flashed her a smile.  “That’s asking a lot from Leander here.”  Leander promptly turned in his chair and popped his friend in the arm.  “Well it’s true.”  Kemom went to pop him back but he flinched away.  "What?"

"It still hurts.  I need to get it back to medical or something."

All of a sudden Yeave flashed on a way to distract them.  “And another thing, the royal cartographers said we should be biologically compatible with the natives here.  Try not to let it distract you.”

“Why would it?”  Leander asked.

“Oh shit!”  Kemom said.  “The Omicrom cloud kills any active circuitry.”

“So?”  Leander’s eyes got wide.  “Oh shit, our implants!”

Yeave chuckled.  Welcome back sex drive.  Granted it would take her a little longer, but the guys ought to be revving up any time now.  “No chasing the native girls.”  They were both quiet.  Too quiet.  No way.  “Or the native boys,” she turned to find both men hunched over their instruments, so neither noticed how the other one was turning red.  Oh this was going to be just fantastic.

A moment later Kemom grinned.  “Bingo Captain!”  He crowed.  “I’ve got a cromantium signature, loud and clear.”

Yeave turned to his board to have a look.  “Where is it?”

“Looks like it’s in an urban area…and it’s in motion.”

Yeave felt a warm, true smile growing.  Her father had died alongside the rest of the men in King Eldrak’s court, her mother had succumbed to her grief not long after the Queen Mother had succumbed to age, she’d thought neither she nor Sarai had anyone left but each other.  But now…  “Hello, Uncle Dhai.”  She whispered.  Then she cleared her throat and got control of herself again.  “Reconfigure for maximum biomass and find a patch as close as you can get that will allow us to land and hide the ship.”  She pulled the ship into a turn and started heading back around to that signature and losing altitude.  “Let me know when we’re far enough into the atmosphere to drop the filters, I’m going to have to sight land this thing.”

“How will we be able to get off again?”  Leander asked.

“Uncle Dhai’s forgotten more about flying than the three of us know, he’ll get us home.”

“I wonder why he never came back.”

“I don’t know.”

* * *

 

They packed up the team, large trucks that would provide all the gear they needed for bio-containment, military to provide security and god only knew what else.  But they couldn’t move to the location until the thing landed.

Once the ship was down far enough the two fighter jets the General had launched took up position on either side.  “What do you see, pilot?”  The General asked.

“I’m not seeing anything that looks like any kind of weapon on it, sir.”  The pilot replied.  “I see a windshield but it appears to be covered.  I can’t see inside the ship.  They don’t seem to be reacting to our presence at all, sir.”  There was a pause.  “I might be seeing some kind of damage to what looks like some kind of detection equipment on the outside, it looks like something has been broken off there.”

“Maybe that’s why they don’t see is.”  Someone said.

There was a pause, long enough to get everyone edgy, and then the pilot spoke again.  “Sir!  They’re raising the cover on their windshield!  I can see two…no, three figures in their cockpit.”

* * *

 

“Alright, filters going up.”  Kemom said.

The screen over the shield lifted, allowing Yeave to get her first view of the planet below them.  It was green, the most beautiful green she’d ever seen and the sky was a perfect crystalline blue, just a little more blue than home, and those were intact cities down there that had never seen a Mek bombardment and people who had never run in fear of the slavers.  It was practically a paradise. 

“Uhhh , Captain…”  Leander’s voice was shaking.

Yeave turned to look at him, then turned to look where he was looking.  She’d been looking out the _front_ of the viewscreen, when she looked to the _sides_ she spotted what had to be fighters, boxing them in.  “Oh shit!”

“Can’t progress that fast, huh?”  Kemom snapped.

“Stow it!”  All right, change of plans.  Was there any way they could pull out or out run them or…

“Yeave, I think that one’s trying to get your attention.”

* * *

 

“We’re attempting to establish communication sir.”  The pilot said, while in the background the other pilot could be heard trying to hail the ship.  “They can’t seem to hear us; trying visual communications.”

* * *

 

As Yeave watched the pilot pointed to her, pointed to his eyes and then waggled his controller to wiggle his wings up and down.  Great, they weren’t getting out of this.  “Okay, new plan.”  She said.  “Those ships have to come from a landing field somewhere.  Since we’re not hiding from them I’m going to head for the nearest landing field to the signature, then when it’s dark I’ll sneak out and find my uncle.  You two stay here and guard Sarai.”

“We guard Sarai?”  Leander asked.  “What if they try to come suck our brains or something?”

“Just keep the hatch locked and you should be fine.  If all else fails there are pulse rifles in the storage bay.  Kemom, find me a landing field.”  She looked over at the pilot, who was repeating the gesture for the third time.  “Okay here we go.”  She waggled her wings to let him know that she did indeed see and understand.

* * *

 

“Sir, we have achieved visual communication!”  A sharp thrill went around the room. “Am attempting to indicate that they should land.”

“See if you can get them to Langley pilot.”  The General said.

“Yes, sir.”

* * *

 

The pilot of the fighter pointed to her and pointed to the ground.  “Okay, I think they want us to land.”  Yeave said.  She waggled her wings in encouragement.  “Why do I feel like I’m being herded?” 

“You are.”  Kemom said,   “They’re pushing us off course.  Here.”  He sent a flight plan to her station.  “That will get us to what looks like the closest landing strip.  There are ships like that on the ground there.”

“All right, more power to the shields.  Time to show them what the _Sulaco_ has in her.”

* * *

 

“Sir, they’re changing course.  Looks like they’re heading for DC proper.”  The pilot said.

“Try to crowd them!”  The General said.

“I’m trying sir, but there’s something pushing back against my plane.”

“They might have some kind of force shield.”  Someone said.  “It would keep the fighters from getting too close.”

“Are they still losing altitude?”  The General asked.

“Yes, sir.”

There was a tense time while the ship descended, but then.  “Sir, they appear to be lining up on approach to Andrews.”

“Andrews!”  Everyone turned to look at the map.  Andrews Air Force Base was almost in the center of Washington.  “Oh god!”

“Yes, Sir.”

 “Contact the field there; implement the protocol.”

“Yes, Sir.”

In the background they could hear the pilots in the escort telling the tower that they were landing, going through the approach procedures.  In those last long, tense moments Spencer and Emily just looked at each other.  Could this really be happening?

But after much holding of breath they finally heard it.  “General, the bogey is on the ground at Andrews.  I repeat, the bogey is on the ground at Andrews.”

Emily just swallowed.  The aliens had landed. 


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

On the plus side, Emily thought. They were only fifteen minutes away from Andrews, given that they cleared out an entire lane of traffic for their caravan.  And only thirty minutes from her hotel.  “So what happens now?”  She asked Spencer.

“Right now they should be isolating the ship and setting up a secure perimeter.”  Spencer replied.  “Once they’ve checked for radiation and any other potential dangers then volunteers will set up a bio-containment dome around it.”

“They’re thinking bio-warfare?”  She asked.

“It doesn’t have to be intentional.  We don’t know what they’re carrying, something that could be as common as a cold to them could kill us.  Hopefully nothing will try to leave the ship beforehand.  Once containment is established we’ll try to make direct contact.”

“How?” 

“I have no idea.”

* * *

 

Leander craned his head to look out the viewscreen.  “Yep, that would be even more weapons out there.”  He said.  “Are you sure they don’t think we’re Meks?”

“Meks can’t cross the Omicrom belt.  Nothing larger than a scout can.”  Yeave reassured them.  “Get back here and help.”  They were in the common room building three portable scanners to find the cromantium.

“You know, that’s a military base out there.”  Kemom pointed out.  “Are you sure you’re going to be able to sneak out of here?”

“I’m going to give it my damned best.”  She replied.  “As soon as it’s dark I’ll go out the bottom hatch.  We’ll start some lights flashing on the starboard side to get their attention and then I’ll run to port.” He sighed and looked at the still figure in the medic bunk.  “You know, this would be a lot easier with you along, Princess.”

But Sarai didn’t reply.

* * *

 

It wasn’t like they were traveling in any sort of luxury, but olive drab busses did do the job nicely.  Spencer was just glad Emily was with him on this.  While he was certain Blake was right, he was entirely capable of handling this situation, he was very glad he didn’t have to handle it on his own.  Granted they still didn’t have enough on the Unsub, didn’t have his motivations, his intent, and couldn’t break his code.  But they would.  They just needed time and data.

“There it is!”  Someone said.

They had come around a curve and slowed to go through a checkpoint and so were looking down the runway at Andrews.  And there it was, stubby, a not unfamiliar shape, grey with red marks….

He was distracted by a woman standing by the fence.

The torn lace of her dress danced in a breeze that didn’t ruffle the grass and her ink black curls clung to the tears on her cheeks.  She looked right at him, right into his eyes and his soul.  “Help,” she said distinctly.  “Please.”

Spencer blinked.

She was gone.

He felt his heart sinking as his stomach tried to tie itself into know.  Damn it, he thought, of all the times to start showing symptoms.  Just when the most amazing thing actually happens.  I should report it but they’ll take me off the team.  Both teams, and I just….

“I cannot believe this is really happening.”  Emily marveled.  “I can’t believe that’s real.” 

Spencer looked over.  Yes, the ship was still there.  And the military was treating it like it was very real.  “I’m just glad it is.”  He sighed.

* * *

 

“Hey Captain?”  Leander called.

Yeave opened her eyes.  She’d been trying to get some kind of rest before venturing out later.  It had been a long dammed time period and she was honestly exhausted.  “What?”

“You might want to revise the plan again.”

“Why?”  Damn it.  She got up and went to look out the viewscreen.  For the past several hours the local military had been bustling about the ship at a safe distance.  She’d seen them draped in these odd hooded suits do whatever they were doing, which like any military included a lot of standing around.   At one point something like a mini-Mek had driven up and around the ship, carrying something that looked like a little sensor array.  But so far no one had even gotten close, thankfully.  But now they were slowly erecting a giant siltura-screen tent over and around the ship.  “Son of a…”

“Yeah, that’s going to make it hard to sneak out.  And those look like big lights, I don’t think we’re gonna get dark.”

Crap.  Yeave chewed her lip and considered.  “Okay, plan C.  We go with whatever they have planned and stick together.  We each take a hand-scanner.  The first chance any of us has to sneak off we go and find my uncle, the remaining two stay with Sarai.”

“What if they want to experiment on us or something?”  Leander asked.

“They’re not going to experiment on us.”  Yeave replied.  “But I don’t want them poking around the ship.  Let’s set up some kind of security system, come on.”

* * *

 

The protocol called for a small remote unit, something similar to what was used for explosive disposal,  to get in close to the ship and check for radiation or other toxins.  After not finding anything they had set up a large containment tent, pressurized it as best they could, and strung up lights so they could see.  Now the question was what to do next.  And that fell to the communications team.  “This almost feels like a hostage situation.”  Emily said.  “I wish I could call Rossi and ask him what to do.”

“No kidding.”  Spencer replied.

The woman was standing in the corner looking at him.  “Please help me.”  She said.

“Well someone is going to have to go knock on the door.”  The General pointed out.  “You two are the only members of the Communications group to make it out here, which one of you is going?”

Spencer ignored the woman in the corner and tried to focus on the meeting.  “I’ll do it.”  He said.  Emily opened her mouth to protest but he shushed her.  “Emily please, I’ve waited all my life for this.”

“I don’t know where we are.”  The woman said.  “And I can’t get through to my friend.  Please help.”

“That and he’s a champion at charades.”  Emily said.

“They destroyed my library!”  The woman started weeping again.  “I need it back but I don’t know how to start.  Please!”

“Charades.  Great.”  The General grumbled.  “I guess we have to start somewhere.  Go get into a suit and we’ll see what happens.”

Spencer got up from the table and filed out with the rest, and ignored the weeping hallucination in the corner.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Spencer Reid had waited his whole life for this.

Here he was, the most put upon geek in the Las Vegas High School system standing in a hazmat suit in a big white tent in the middle of Andrews Air Force Base with two scientists he was calling Thing 1 and Thing 2 about to knock on the door of an actual space ship so he could attempt to play charades with aliens.  I’m not certain that life can get better than this moment, he thought.

“Are you ready Reid?”  Emily said over the radio.

“I think so.”  He had a short length of pipe with him and he used it to rap three times on the hatch. 

After a moment he knocked again.

He was just about to knock a third time when the door or hatch or whatever bleeped and hissed and then the iris hatch spun open, letting him have a look at the interior. All he saw was a short hallway with the same kind of closed hatch on the other side.  “Looks like an airlock.”  Spencer said into the radio.

“We see that Reid.  We may lose radio contact once we get in there.”

“Understood.” 

For reasons he would never understand the two scientists were looking at him like he was the leader.  “All right we’re going in.”  Spencer took a deep breath and they stepped through the door.  As they had expected it closed behind them.  “Emily?  Emily?  Either of you two have contact?”  They both shook their heads.  “All right, keep it together.  Remember, we have to assume these are people, not things, and be respectful.  We can learn more through communication that through treating them like lab rats.”

A moment later the inner iris opened.  Spencer took point and stepped into what appeared to be some kind of living area, a table, benches, maybe some kind of galley.  He checked all the corners for hiding threats, quartering the room without thinking.  Once every potential threat was catalogued he went back over them again.

The first thing he noticed is that they were _people_.

The two men standing in the far opposite corner of the room would not have been pegged for alien if they were walking down the street.  They looked utterly, entirely human, if slightly husky, but no more so than an athlete.  They both appeared to be in their mid-20’s, one slightly older and black, the other white with honest-to-god freckles.  They got his attention first because they were each carrying a wicked looking rifle of some kind, although the white guy was not carrying it well.  He had some kind of a bulkiness under his sleeve that seemed to be in the way.  They were not threatening them with the weapons, and after a moment Spencer realized that they were guarding a door behind them.  “Okay guys.”  He said over the comm to Thing 1 and 2, “Don’t get too close to those two, they’re guarding that door.”

“Roger that.”  They replied.

“Please help,” said the woman in the corner.

Of all the times.  Persistent hallucination was one of the first symptoms.  It’s the stress, Spencer thought, too much excitement.  At least I’m not delusional; I know she’s not real.  He caught movement and turned in the opposite direction.  That way led to the cockpit, he could see the light coming through the windows.  As a result the third person walking toward them was in silhouette until she shut the iris behind her.  And female she was too, that boxy uniform she was wearing couldn’t hide the figure.  She was also black and from the eyes extremely intelligent.  She walked into the space with confidence and grace and the other two flicked little glances at her for reassurance.  “Okay, body language says she’s the Captain here,” he told the scientists.

“Wow.”  Thing 1 replied.

Right, now how to communicate.  Spencer stepped forward, his hands up and open, hopefully the universal gesture for ‘we mean you no harm’.  In response she put her hands up as well, then slowly reached for something that might have been a sidearm at her hip, based on where and how she was wearing it.  She slowly removed it, and offered it to him.  “What do you think that means?”  Thing 2 asked.

“Surrender,” Spencer said.  It was like handing over a sword or a gun, he thought.  He accepted the piece as a symbolic gesture, and looked it over.  He couldn’t even tell what the business end was.  So he nodded formally, and then handed it back the same way, hoping that she would read his acceptance and his trust. She smiled a little in what was hopefully a pleasant surprise, then accepted it back and returned it to her hip.

“Why did you do that?”  Thing 1 asked.

“Because we want to be friends and you trust your friends.”  Spencer replied.  Okay, now what?  He thought.

“I can’t come out with my library like this.”  The woman said.  “It’s not safe.  Please come help me.”  She held out her hand to him.

“Ask them why they’re here.”  Thing 2 said eagerly.

“Start simple.”  Spencer said.  Okay, think.  How many people are we dealing with here?  He pointed to himself, held up one finger, then to Thing 1 and held up a second finger, then to Thing 2 and held up a third finger.  Made the all together gesture of a circle then held up there.  There were three of them.  Then he gestured for her to do the same.  She pointed to herself for one, the black guy for two, the white guy for three, and then to the room past them for four.  All together, four.  “Okay, it looks like a four man crew.”

Thing 2 had edged forward a little and was looking around eagerly.  “If those are the bedrooms then I’m seeing four bunks.”  He said.  “They sleep in bunks like ours.  Wow.”

But the Captain here was getting his attention.  She pointed to the biohazard hood he had on, gestured to it and then made a curious face and an open shrug.  From what he could tell the question was “Why are you wearing that?”

He gestured to her and the other two; then mimed coughing and being sick.  She frowned a question but then understanding hit and she gave him this grin that just lit up her face and shook her head.  No, they were not sick.  But she held up her hands in what should be a reassuring gesture, as if to say she understood. 

“Can we get them to leave the ship?”  Thing 1 asked.

Spencer stepped back, as if inviting her to go through the doorway in front of him, and made a come with gesture.  She frowned at that and then turned to the other two and spoke.  Their language was musical, somehow, evenly cadences, the syllables even and rapid.  She seemed to solicit opinions from the rest of the crew, which they gave without hesitation, showing a good working relationship, but then she made up her mind.  She turned back to Spencer, gestured to herself and her crew and made a gesture as if to say “We’re staying together.”   Of course she wanted to keep her people together, he thought, safety in numbers and all that.  He nodded, he’d insist on it, and he knew Emily would back him up.

She turned and said something that sounded a lot like an order.  The two at the door weren’t thrilled with it, but they stepped away from the door, put their rifles in racks on the wall, and closed the cupboard.  Then they stepped aside and she motioned for him to follow her into the room.  He went first and noticed that the hallucination followed.

This room wasn’t just a bedroom.  If anything it looked more like a medical space with counters and cabinets, a treatment bed in the center, and two bunks on the side.  And in one of them was a sealed containment stretcher, its covering completely opaque. 

Oh boy.

 


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Spencer pointed at the stretcher and mimed sickness again.  The Captain waved her hand in front of her in a negation and then made a motion he didn’t quite understand.

“What is she saying?”  Thing 1 asked.

Unfortunately she couldn’t see his face well, but Spencer made a palm up gesture of “What?” To her.  She indicated that the white guy should come forward.  With the other guy’s help they eased off his uniform jacket, revealing a framework around his forearm, and then they removed that somehow.  The guy was clearly wincing and hissing in pain as they did this. Under his jacket he was wearing something a lot like a t-shirt, revealing his forearms.  The bones in his left forearm were clearly broken, lumpy under the skin.  She pointed to them and made the motion again.  Like breaking a stick, he realized. Then she pointed to the stretcher and made the same gesture.  “It looks like some of these people are wounded.”  He told the Things, “Looks like one ambulatory and one not.”

“Maybe that’s why they landed?”  Thing 1 asked, “Medical help?”

“But why come through the Kuipler Belt just for that?”  Thing 2 asked in reply.

In the meantime the Captain and the black guy got the white guy back into what had to be a splint and back into his uniform.  Then she turned back to Spencer and reiterated that they all had to stay together.  He nodded in agreement, she had injured people; of course she would want to stay with them.  Then she stepped to the cupboards and started pulling some of them out of their framework, instantly converting them into bins.  There were three large ones, which she pointed to and then pointed to the stretcher and then the white guys arm, and then made the gesture of these things stay together.  “I think she’s bringing medical supplies with us to treat them.”  Spencer said.

“Please.”  The woman in the corner said once again.

“Can we get samples?”  Thing 2 asked eagerly.

“One thing at a time,” Spencer said.

“We should warn the team that we’re bringing out wounded.”  Thing 1 said.

“Good point.”  He pointed to himself, pointed to the world past the door, and made a talking gesture.  She nodded; touched some gizmo on her arm, and Spencer saw daylight enter the common room.  Thing 1 immediately went to report. 

There were also bags in the corner, which looked a lot like duffle bags.  Personal gear, he thought.  She indicated that he should take the bins, and she and swung one around her body.  The black guy helped the white guy into one, and then he put on the other two.  Then he went over to the stretcher and lifted it off the bottom bunk.

It floated.

It floated and let him guide it before him at the slightest touch.  He and the Captain carefully eased it out of the doorway and with the white guy with them around to the iris hatch and down.  As soon as Spencer stepped out he heard the cacophony started in his radio.

“They’re humans!”

“They’re humanioid!”

“Social organization….

“Military…”

Spencer shut it all off.

There was a Chinook Helicopter waiting some distance away to ferry them to their destination, and an extension of the tent to get them there.  They had landed on the grass in between the runways and now white guy stopped and crouched down to touch it, grinning and saying something excited up to his friend, which touched off a small conversation between the three of them.  Why so excited about the grass, Spencer wondered.

Not too far from the ship they stopped.  The captain looked at him and then looked back at the ship.  She pointed to him, and then pointed to the hidden people all around, then to the ship, and made a gesture like she was picking it apart.  He winced, he didn’t want to admit to it but he knew that’s what they intended, to study it and eventually take it apart.  Sheepishly he nodded.

She gave him a tight little “gotcha” look and then touched something on the gizmo on her wrist.  He saw some kind of a sparkle spring up around the ship in a dome shape.  He balanced the bin on his hip and reached out to touch it, only to feel the force shield pushing back against his hand.  They were locked out. 

Damn.

He was the last one up the ramp.  As he watched they settled the floating stretcher just above one of the bench seats, then started trying to figure out the strapping system to hold it in place.  He stepped forward and helped and got a grateful smile for his trouble.

“You can help, I know you can.”  The woman standing by the bulkhead said.

* * *

 

“Check it out.”  Leander said as they walked down a siltura-screen tunnel toward some kind of waiting transport.  He bent to run his hands over the soft velvet of the grass.   “It’s all still green.  This place is a frikking paradise.  No wonder the Royal family decided to keep it to themselves.”

“This world is a bolt hole.”  Yeave corrected them.  “Or it was supposed to be.  A safe place to hide in times of trouble.  And this war counts as trouble.”

“I wonder if they have real food.”  He said.

“Man, you and your stomach.”  Kemom replied.

As they walked away she turned and gestured to the tall one, assuming they would try to examine the ship as soon as their back was turned.  From the wince and the nod she decided she’d figured right.  Nu-uh she thought as she remotely activated the force shield, that’s our way home.  You people leave it be.

They boarded the transport and carefully moved the stretcher against the wall.  There was some kind of webbing system that looked like it could hold it in place, but it was unfamiliar.  After a moment the tall one stepped forward and helped her with it.  “Thank you.”  She said.  At that moment she finally got a good look inside the helmet he was wearing.  Kinda cute.  Not really her type, but still.  Oh, hello no implant.

“I wonder where we’re going.”  Leander asked as they stowed the medical supplies and their gear in some likely manner.

“I don’t know.”  She replied as others in those protective suits helped them with the stowing.  “Hopefully not too far away.  Uncle Dhai’s our only hope now, unless princess here decides to wake up.”  Come on Sarai, she thought as hard as she could.  Hear me.

But there was no reply.

* * *

 

Spencer sat and watched them settle themselves.  Thankfully the Chinook was designed for people wearing bio-containment gear; there was room for the filter pack on his back.

“Please come help me.”  The woman said as she knelt beside him.  He swore he could almost feel the pressure of her hands on his knee.  “Please, I don’t know what to do.”

It’s just an illusion, he thought, It’s not real.  If it was he’d have to follow her and help, his sense of duty and honor wouldn’t allow anything else.  But that way lies madness.

Then the door closed and they were on their way.

 


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

It had been a full day and no word from Reid.  They had tried his phone over and over again but there wasn’t any reply.  Morgan had tried calling Emily to see if she could find anything, but she wasn’t replying either.  And Blake simply wasn’t talking at all.  “Reid can handle it.”  She said, “He’s not a child, you know.  He’s very good at what he does.”

“And what is that in this case?”  Morgan asked.

Blake just smiled.  “Nice try.”

“Do you have any idea even where he is?”

She turned to the television up in the corner where news people were talking about how they had shut down some chunks of highway and issued a no-fly zone over the city, all to isolate Andrews Air Force Base after some mysterious plane had landed.  “Probably right in the middle of that mess,” she replied.

Now it was after work and they were back at Max’s.  And who should he run in to but Matt and his Dad, picking up pizza.  “Hey, you heard from Emily?”  Morgan asked.

“Nope,” Matt replied.  “Last time I saw her I assume her boss called and she had to go in to work.”

“When was that?”

“Um, about 3 o’clock this morning.”

About the same time they called in Reid.  And her boss, probably not Interpol and not FBI, but you never really left the CIA.  “Wait a minute, what were you two doing together at 3 in the morning?’

“Now that is not a question a gentleman can answer.”

Morgan chuckled.  Now that was all right.

* * *

 

For the first few moments of the flight Yeave was thrilled.  The steady blipping of the hand scanner showed them getting closer to the trace of rare metal that would lead them to her uncle.  She swore, in fact, that they passed right over it.  But then they left it behind them.  Further and further behind them.  Yeave sighed as the distance just kept climbing.

“So are we up to plan e or plan f?”  Kemom asked.

“Oh, stow it.”  She groaned.  “I think we’re on last option unless something changes.”

“And what’s last option.”

“Throw ourselves on their mercy and ask them to help find him.”

“Meaning we can expose both the King and the princess.  Lovely.”

“They don’t know about the royal family, we can keep that part out of it.  Just let me take the lead here.”

“Well that is why they pay you more, Captain.”

“Check it out!”  Leander called to him.

A moment later and the two guys were clinging to the viewports.  But all she could do was sit there and gently touch the head of the stretcher.  Wake up, friend, she thought.  I’m not sure I can save you without you.

* * *

 

Spencer watched and listened as whatever device the Captain was holding told her something she did not want to hear.  The three of them held a short conversation over it and then the two men went to watch out the windows.  They flew like that for a time, with the Captain clearly worried about whoever was in the stretcher, him speaking to people over the comm link and the hallucination quietly shaking and weeping at his knee.  He could have sworn he felt her leaning against him, but that didn’t make it real.

They landed at Ft. Detrick and were instantly escorted into the back of a truck and then off to the isolation unit.  The head of the exobiology team met him on the way in.  “We set the suite of rooms up as you said.”  He said.  “I assume to better observe their behavior.”

“To make them more comfortable.”  He said, holding the fascinated biologist back as the Captain and her crew walked by.  “These are people, sentient beings, and they deserve to be treated with respect.  Given their sentence I think we’ll learn more through communication than through treating them like lab rats.”

“Of course, of course.”  The biologist said.  “It’s just…”

“Think Vulcans.”  Spencer told him.  “Not little green men.”

“Vulcans.”  That helped click it in.  “Right, we can do that.”

The crew stepped in to the small suite of rooms.  There was a common room, with a table and some lounging furniture, mostly pulled from waiting rooms from the look of it, and a small kitchen area, there was a bedroom with three beds, two set up bunk style, and wooden wall lockers, there was a small bath with a shower, and the fourth room was set up as a hospital style room.  The hospital room had no window to the outside and an obvious window to the nurses’ station opposite, the other two non-bathroom rooms had windows to the outside and two-way mirrors for observation.  Not ideal, he would have wanted to give them privacy in the bedroom, but it was a compromise. 

The crew floated the stretcher into the hospital room and locked it beside the bed somehow.  Then she indicated that the two men should stay there, along with the bins.  She took the duffle bags and went to look at the other rooms, for all the world like she was checking out a hotel room.  A moment later she came back and nodded, it would do, but she didn’t take the other two off guard duty.  He could see her go into the bedroom and toss duffels on beds, assigning them to people, with the fourth going into one of the lockers.  That must belong to the one in the stretcher, he thought.

She came back and nodded, letting the two men relax but not indicating that they should open the stretcher.  She pointed at the white guy, and made the motion for broken again, then she pointed to Spencer and the collection of people outside the window and reversed it.   “What is she asking?”  Someone said over the comm link

“I think she wants us to fix him somehow.”  Emily replied.

In the meantime the Captain was saying something to her crew.

* * *

 

“You want me to what?”  Leander asked.

“Let them try to set your arm.”  Yeave repeated.  “See what their medicine is like here.”

“Why me?”

“Because the only injured ones here are you and Sarai and I’m not letting them practice on her.”

Kemom chuckled.  “Yeah, man, do your duty to the crown.”

Leander looked at the stretcher and shook his head. “Man, I want a raise after this.”

* * *

 

“Can we get medical in here?”  Spencer asked.

A few moments later three members of the medical team came in.  While they had been waiting the captain and the other man eased the injured one back out of his splint and uniform jacket.  As soon as the splint was off he started hissing and wincing from the pain.  Once his jacket was off the Captain opened one of the bins, pulled out an ampoule of something, inserted it into a something else, and pressed it against the crewman’s upper arm.  It hissed and left a neat, red oval, but the crewman relaxed again.  “Pain relief?”  Someone asked.

The doctor came over and took a look, gently prodding and poking.  “Well if he was human I’d say a displaced transverse fracture.   I want to do an x-ray.”  He looked over at Spencer.  “Can you tell them that?”

“Um, I’m not certain how.  Do you have one, maybe I can show them?”  A few moments later someone came in with an x-ray of an arm.  He looked over at the Captain, gestures at everyone for a ‘we’ then held his hands up like he was snapping a picture.  That got her a confused look.  “Anyone have a tablet, some kind of a computer, a phone…”  A moment later someone handed him a tablet computer.  It took him a moment to find the camera feature, but he was able to and he snapped the Captain’s picture and then showed it to her, repeating the gesture.  Ahhh, yes, she understood.  He repeated the we and the picture, and then kind of pointed inside his own arm.  She looked confused again so he showed her the picture, and got a smile of understanding before she turned to her people.

* * *

 

“They want to do a bone scan.”  Yeave said, looking at the picture.

“A bone scan?”  Leander repeated.

“Oh come on, man, it’s not like you haven’t had one before.”  Kemom grinned at him.

“Yeah, but what if it makes my arm rot off.”

“Not exactly a great loss there.”

“Only way to find out is to let them do it.”  Yeave said.  “Looks like you’re the test subject.”

“Oh man…”

* * *

 

Whining was universal, but the crewman followed orders and offered his arm for the slaughter.  The Captain indicted that the two men would stick together, and the Doctors led them off to the other room for an x-ray.

In the meantime the Captain found an empty basket in one of the cupboards, opened her bins and started pulling out ampoules.  As Spencer watched she took one of everything out of each bin.  Closing them up she gestured to all of them and then to the person on the stretcher, as if to say these are for her.  Then she took the basket and presented it to Spencer.  Just to clarify Spencer gestured to them and then to the group of scientists behind them.  She smiled and nodded and offered them a bit more firmly.  “I think she’s offering us samples of their medical supplies.”  Spencer said.  “It looks like a sample of each different compound.”

“Oh you tell her we accept Dr. Reid.”  Someone said over the comm with excitement in his voice.  “With all due gratitude.”

Not certain how to communicate that Spencer accepted the basket, smiled and used the sign language gesture for thank you.  She repeated it with a nod, the meaning clear.  He took the basket to the door and offered it to the waiting scientist who quickly whisked the basket of samples away.  When he came back she’d pulled on some kind of plastic gloves and was doing something to the stretcher.  On one side she removed an empty bag of some kind and replaced it with a bag full of a clear fluid. “Can we have that?”  Someone said over the comm...  Given that she looked like she was going to throw it away Spencer simply held his hands out and she gave it to him.

After dropping that off he came back only to find her replacing a bag on the other side.  This time the one she pulled out was full of a golden yellow substance and she was replacing it with an empty.  Spencer didn’t say anything; he just passed off the sample to the excited biologists.  Even her gloves were passed off when they were removed.

With one crewman tended to and the two others off getting an x-ray she sat in the chair beside the bed.  He watched her slump, probably in exhaustion.  I know how you feel he thought.

All the while the woman stood in the corner and quietly wept.

 


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

“So, how was the bone scan?”  Yeave asked when the guys came back.  The tall one had gone out for a bit, probably to get a break from that suit.

“Not bad.”  Kemom said.  Leander was still carrying his unsplinted arm gingerly.  “They were very careful about covering his junk.”

“Oh, that’s nice.”  Not that it was all that important given the number of samples these two had likely left back in Genetics, but it was still kindly of them.

“What do you think they’ll do now?”  Leander asked.

“Probably wait for the scan to process then come back in here and set the bone and then splint it into place.”  Yeave replied.  “What do you think?  Why is there a leaver on this chair?”  She reached down and fiddled with it.  It was stiff, but it wanted to move…a moment later it did, and a footrest came up as the back went back, converting it into a very comfortable almost bed.  “Okay, this is nice.  I’m calling rank.  You guys take the room; I’m staying here with Sparky tonight.” 

They chuckled then got serious.  “Has she even moved?”  Kemom asked.

“Not a twitch.”

“What do you think they did to her?”

“What do you think they did to her?”  Leander replied.  “You know what they make people without implants…you know what they do.  Why else would she…lose control like that?”

“Yeah,” Kemom sagged.  “I just don’t want to think about it happening to the bookworm.”

“None of us do.”  Yeave sighed.  “I just wish she would talk to me.”

* * *

 

“Ladies and gentleman!”  One of the scientists came in bearing a black x-ray film.  “They are humanoid, not fully human.”

“How do you know?”  Someone asked.

“Because they don’t have two major long bones of the forearm, they have three.”  He put the x-ray up on the box.  An “ooooo” went through the room.

Even though communication was strictly censured Emily had received permission to check in and let her loved ones know she was all right.  Of course the last person she was going to call was her mother.  “Oh, I am drowning in geek here.”  She said into the phone.

“What’s going on?”  Garcia asked.

“I can’t say.”  Emily replied.  “Very strictly classified, they’re monitoring this call.

“I wonder if that has anything to do with the super secret sneaky thing Reid is off doing.”

“Actually he’s here.”

“Oh!  Oh awesome!  Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s fine.  Hot and tired, he was just heading toward the locker room for a shower.”

“Why are you there?”

“Ahhh, my former employer asked me to come observe for them.  And Reid’s team is way shorthanded so I said I’d help.”

“Cool, at least my junior G-man is not working alone.  And you guys are in a safe place?”

“Yeah, I can’t get specific about any of the details but it looks like we’re going to be working out of Ft. Detrick for the duration, which many be a few weeks.”

“That’s a military base, which means you are surrounded by safe people, which means I will worry a lot less.”

“Yeah, I think the biggest dangers right now are too much coffee and not enough sleep.”

“Well rest, you know.  Make him take care of himself.  Make you take care of yourself.”

“I’ll try.  And I’ll call if anything changes.”

“KK.  Loves to you both, your goddess out.”

* * *

 

On the plane to Omaha the video connection sprang to life.  “Hey guys!”  Garcia chirped, much happier than she’d been when they left.  “I just got a call from Emily.”

“Was she able to find out anything for us?”  Hotch said.

“She was able to find out a lot but she couldn’t say anything because she’s there working on it too.”

“Emily’s there?”  Blake asked.  “Why?”

“Observing for her former employer, but she’s helping Reid because his team is shorthanded.”

“Oh, they probably are.  Her former employer?”

Hotch looked over.  “Emily came to us from the CIA.”

“Ohhhh,” Blake nodded.  “I can see them having an interest.  Was she able to say where they were located?”

“She said they were at Ft. Detrick.”

“Detrick!”  Blake sat up higher, her eyes shining with excitement.  “Really!  Wow, they went to Detrick!”

“Yeah, and she said that she’s fine and Reid is fine and they’re probably going to be working there for a few weeks and she’d call if anything changed.”

“Good enough.”  Hotch nodded.

But JJ was frowning.  “Did she say anything about any dangers…?”

Blake shook her head.  “If they’re at Detrick then you don’t have to worry about the boys, everything’s contained there.  If there was going to be a problem with transport, it would have come up by now.”

JJ relaxed.  “Good.”

“Anything else baby girl?”  Morgan asked.

“Nope.  It was a short message; she said they were monitoring calls.”  Garcia replied.

“All right.  Thank you Garcia, let us know if either of them calls back.”  Hotch rang off.  “Ft. Detrick.  Does that have meaning?”  He asked.

“Yeah.  A lot.  Oh, if they can lift containment then they might call me in.”  She told Hotch, who gave her a look.  “At one point in the process there is an age restriction because the whole thing becomes an endurance test.  I know, its bullshit, but it is what it is.  If they get past that point they might need me to go help Reid.”

They could tell Hotch didn’t like being left shorthanded but he just nodded.  “All right.”

* * *

 

“Hey.”  Spencer looked up at the call from the door to the locker room.  “Are you decent?”  Emily asked.

“Yeah.”  Spencer pulled his undershirt over his head just as she came around the corner and then found his glasses.  He was exhausted; it had finally hit him about halfway through his shower.  And he was hungry.  “Can you take over while I take a break?  They pulled me in just as we were coming off a case, I didn’t get much sleep on the plane.”

“Sure.  Is that what’s been up with you?”  She sat on the bench next to him.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean everyone’s been watching them but I’ve been watching you.  You are not acting yourself, even for standing there trying to communicate with aliens.” 

He took a deep breath, if he could trust anyone here… “I think I’m finally starting to manifest.”  He admitted.  “I think the stress is bringing it out.”

“Manifest?”  Emily was confused for a moment.  “Schizophrenia?  No.  Reid, you’re not showing any of the symptoms.”

“Yes, I am.”  Damn it, he needed help. Not disbelief.  “Over the past year?  Social withdrawal, difficulty expressing emotion…”

“Stress reaction.”

“… depression, crying jags, insomnia, inability to concentrate…”

“Those could all be manifestations of grief.”  She replied.  “What happened with Maeve…”

“…overreacting to criticism, unusual ways of communicating…”

“You’ve always been like that….”

“Emily!”  Damn it!  “You just said my body language was off.”

“Yeah, you keep looking around at…

“Is there a woman standing in the corner?”  He looked over to where the woman in the lace dress was standing, miserable.

Emily looked too, but of course she didn’t see anything.  “Son of a bitch,” she murmured.

“I first saw her when he first saw the ship at Andrews.”  He said, standing up to jerk on his shirt.  “She’s been following me around every since, asking for help.  Persistent visual and audio hallucinations are a second line symptom, meaning that the disease has already progressed.  At this stage it is controllable with medication but if I report it then I’m off the team.  Both teams.”

Emily considered a moment.  “You said this didn’t start until we were in proximity to the ship.  Could this have anything to do with what’s going on?”

“I don’t see how.  Unless….”  Wait a minute…

“I think you might have to take the risk here.”

“Yeah, but what if I do and my whole life falls apart?”

Emily reached over and took his hand.  “Then at least you won’t face it alone.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Eventually the doctor came back in with his assistant.  “Okay, let’s see what he does.”  Yeave said.

Thankfully the anesthetic was still working.  They watched as the doctor carefully pulled and set the bone into place, Leander gritting his teeth at the sensation.  Once it all seemed straight they set about wrapping it with some kind of hard substance.  “What is that?”  He asked.

“Some kind of splinting material.  I don’t think you need an old-school shell for it.”  Yeave waved them off and picked up the splint. The flowmetal wrapped itself around his arm, snugging it tightly, and she set the controls to lock.  “Hopefully we’ll find out when you’re supposed to be out of that at some point.”

Leander sighed.  “At least it feels better.”  The doctor and nurse we’re looking over the splint, just fascinated.  “Should I just let them look at it?’

“Why not.  They’re kinda fun to watch.”

After a bit someone knocked.  They came in with three trays with covers on them, each sending out a heavenly savory scent.  “Oh my stars, Captain.”  Kemom said, his eyes wide.  “They have real food!”

“Stow it, crewman.”  Yeave felt her own stomach know in hunger.  “We can’t all risk getting sick.  You and I are still on rations.

“But…”

“If Leander here doesn’t break out in hives or something we can start in on it tomorrow, but for now break out the packs.”

* * *

 

The observation team watched as Crewman A pulled out what looked like MRE packs and tossed one to the Captain.  Meanwhile Crewman B sat down and started just inhaling his dinner.  They didn’t need the communication team to tell them that Crewman B was finding this to be the most incredible feast of his life.  “How long do you have to be on MRE’s to find mess hall Salisbury steak that tasty?”  Someone asked.

“I don’t think I want to know,” came the reply.

* * *

 

Eventually sleep happened, on both sides of the glass.  This was technically a hospital; they had set aside a number of rooms just for people to rest.  Spencer gratefully tumbled on to one of the beds.  Please don’t follow me into my dreams, he thought.

But that night he didn’t dream.  And when he woke six hours later he felt better seeing Emily on one of the other beds.  He wasn’t facing this alone.

* * *

 

“Go get some rest.”  Yeave told them both.  Leander had absolutely raved over his dinner, now he was literally sitting there with a rounded belly from it, patting it contentedly while Kemom shot him envious looks.  “If you spend all night in the fresher let me know.”

“Should we take watches Captain?”  Kemom asked.

“And do what if they do something?  No, just go rest.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Stay right here in the Captain’s chair and keep the princess here company.”  She worked the lever and settled back.  “Dim the lights as you go.”

A few moments later she felt something soft fall on her.  She slitted open eyes and then mumbled her thanks as Kemom offered her a pillow.

* * *

 

The observation team watched as they turned in.  They noticed that in pretty much every way they acted human.  It took them a few moments to figure out the facilities, but they appeared to be familiar with the concept.  The volume of water involved seemed notable, but they went with it.  And in due time the two male aliens had kicked off their boots and were stretching out on the bunks in their uniforms, perhaps not quite comfortable with the concept of undress in an unknown situation.  In the meantime the Captain appeared to be spending the night in the recliner next to the isolation stretcher.

One of the military people said that was exactly how he’d expect his men to behave in this situation.

* * *

 

The next morning, when the woman was still there after a good night’s sleep, Emily and Spencer finally reported the problem.  “He should have said something sooner.”  The General fumed.  “He should have reported it when it first started.”

“Well he’s saying something now.”  Emily replied.   “We’re wondering if it might be a form of communication.”

“Communication?”

“Yeah.  The first thing we need to know is if this woman is familiar to them.”

“And how do we do that?”

“Reid is sitting with a sketch artist now.”

* * *

 

It took about the amount of time it usually took.  It was somewhat easier because Spencer could see her so clearly.  A number of times during the process he just wanted to attempt to take her picture, after all, she was right there.  But the sketch artist drew her accurately, a woman in her mid 20’s perhaps, a youthful, delicate face with soft lips and big, blue eyes that had a strength about them, even through her current distress, and a scattering of freckles over her nose and cheeks.  He brought the sketch back to show them.  “That’s her?”   Emily asked.

To hell with it.  He literally held the picture up and compared it to the woman standing there.  “Yeah, it’s very good for a sketch.”

“Now what?”  The general asked.

“Now we see if they know her.”  Spencer went and got suited up and took the sketch into the suite where the aliens were waiting. 

* * *

 

Morning came and with it another meal.  This one managed to smell even better.  “Do we have to stick with rations, Captain?”  Kemom said, literally salivating before they had even lifted the covers.

They should, she thought, they really should, although the royal cartographers hadn’t reported any problems with the local food supply at all.  But it all just smelled so heavenly.  “How do you feel, Leander?”

“Hungry.”  He replied.

“Oh, fuck it.”  She sat down with the other two and started uncovering trays.  There was a pile of what had to be eggs and cheese, some strips of meat that had been fried crispy, roots vegetables browned to a turn, some round, fluffy breads warn enough to melt and soak in the butter, bowls of fruits and cartons of milk.  And all of it real, not flavored mush whipped up by a computer out of the base molecules.   Real. “I haven’t eaten like this since I was in the single digits.”  She murmured.  “Hey sparky, you’re missing a royal feast.” She said, digging in.

 Of course there was no reply. 

* * *

 

Spencer walked in and looked around.  The three aliens had finished a hearty breakfast, now they were waiting to see what the day would bring.  And in the corner the woman waited.  “Please.”   She said, “Please help me.”

Spencer looked at the Captain, and pointed to himself, then to his eyes, then to the paper, then to the woman in the corner:  I see her there.  The Captain looked at the corner and frowned her confusion.  He pointed to the Captain, then to his head, then to the paper, with a question on his face:  Do you know her?  Curious and confused the Captain looked at the paper.

And Spencer Reid learned the words for son of a bitch.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

The crewmen looked at their Captain, clearly startled.  She showed them the sketch, causing Crewman A to repeat the earlier phrase.  Then he asked something that sounded like a question.  She considered this a moment, and then shook her head, handed the sketch back to Spencer and started fiddling with the stretcher as Crewman A came over to help.  It started making sounds in reply and after a few moments the top slid open.

Inside was the woman he’d been seeing.

She was unconscious, dressed in what had to be her underwear.  He could see bruising on her arms, her legs, her neck, disappearing under her clothing.  The Captain and Crewman A carefully lifted her off the stretcher and set her on the hospital bed, then the Captain drew the sheet over her while Crewman A did something that allowed them to stow the stretcher against the wall.

“Is that her Reid?”  Emily asked over the comm.

“Yeah,” Spencer replied, taking in the possibilities.  “I think we need to run an experiment here.  Ask them to set up for an EEG.  Also….”  The pattern of the bruises was familiar.  “We need a trauma team in here.”

“Trauma?”  Emily asked.  “How badly is she injured?”

“Not that kind of trauma.”  He sighed.  “If she was human with these bruises I’d say we need to run a rape kit.”

“Oh damn.”

“Please.”  The woman in the corner said.  “Please, I don’t know how to fix this.”

Spencer closed his eyes as the weight of her request fell upon him and sighed.

* * *

 

While Spencer started his experiment Emily suited up and went in with a team of medical personnel, all female.  Somehow she managed to get across to the Captain that they wanted to try to help her friend.

As they eased the mystery woman out of her clothing Emily noted that she was built exactly like a human woman.  Even when they started the kit she appeared to have the same external parts as everyone else.  Because of that the damage was easy to recognize, she had indeed been raped.  Emily indicated the bruises and made the breaking gesture, as if to ask if that was the injury the Captain had referred to.  The Captain looked understandably upset but nodded.  Emily tried to get to who and how, but those concepts were hard through gestures.

“What’s this?”  One of the nurses asked.

They looked over at a distinct circular bruise on the woman’s thigh.  “That’s not from the rape.”  Emily said.  She pointed to it and made a questioning gesture.  The Captain replied with a gesture that mimed an injection.  “Whoever raped her drugged her as well.”

“If she was human I’d say they went right into the femoral artery.”  The doctor said.  “That’s not fooling around.  I wonder if she’s catatonic from the drug.”

“It could be from the trauma.”  Emily pointed out.  “Either way, it doesn’t look like they take it lightly.”

“No one does.”

* * *

 

In the meantime Spencer had been lining up a random sample of volunteers for EEG tests, including himself.  The scan measured electrical activity in the brain.  “You have remarkable Gamma waves. Dr. Reid.”  The technician running the sample said.

“All right, I want you to run a second one on me.”  He said.  Only this time he moved close enough to the observation window for the aliens to see.  They had finished the exam on Crewman C, had tucked her into a hospital gown and then into bed, so Emily was free to try to explain.  He didn’t know how well she did, but the Captain was watching with interest.  “Okay,” She said when they were done.  “Now we test them.”

As he predicted the Captain assigned Crewman B, clearly the house guinea pig, the task of going first.  His scan turned out to be human average.  They were surprised when she allowed Crewman A to be tested, but his also turned out to be human normal.  She then indicated that they should test her.  They found her to have more active Gamma waves, but not as active as Spencer’s.

Now for the tricky part.  “Ask if we can test Crewman C.”  He said over the comm.

Emily gestured out the questions.  The Captain clearly looked wary, but after a moment nodded.  They carefully hooked the unconscious crewman up to the EEG machine and then started the scan.

The readings were instantaneous.  If she had been asleep they would have expected her Theta waves to be dominant, if in a coma then her Alpha waves would have dominated the scan.  But instead her Gamma waves were just going off the charts right from the get go, quickly followed by everything else.

Then the needles redlined.

Then the machine made a popping sound, sent out a shower of sparks, and started to smoke.  They quickly unplugged her and got the machine out of the rooms.  “What the hell does that mean?”  Someone asked.

Spencer tapped on the window, getting everyone’s attention.  He looked at the Captain, pointed to Crewman C, made a talking motion with his fingers, and then pointed to his head.  The Captain’s shoulder’s drooped in resignation, but after a moment she nodded.

“What does that mean?”  The General asked.

Spencer looked from the body on the bed to the weeping woman in the corner.  “I think Crewman C is a telepath.”

* * *

 

“Why you?”  Emily asked.

“I think that she might have lost the ability to control it after the trauma.”  Spencer replied.  “She’s asking for help, she might be broadcasting on all frequencies, but it’s landing on the mind with the most closely similar Gamma wave pattern.  He put up the scans showing Crewman C’s, his and the Captains.  They were all very similar, but his was notably closer.  “She may not currently have the strength or control to reach anyone else.”

“Reid, for the record, this is crazy.”  Emily said.

Spencer sighed.  “It might be.”  He replied.  “But it’s also our best shot at communication so far.  She might be thinking in her language but my mind is interpreting it as English.  We might actually be able to get some information from her.  Can someone set me up with an MRI scan?  That way we can have a before and after.”  The scientist around them eagerly jumped to his request.

“True.  But how much of this is a desire for data and how much of this is about her being a pretty girl who’s also a victim who needs help.”

Spencer swallowed.  Right on the nerve, thank you Emily.  “Isn’t that what we do?”  He murmured.

“How much of this is not being able to save Maeve?”  He wasn’t even going to touch that one.  “What if this causes permanent brain damage or something?”

“At least it’s for a worthwhile cause.”  The called out that the MRI was good to go and he headed in that direction.  “If you really want to freak out over something, Emily, freak out of the fact that I’m about to break bio-containment protocol.”

“Oh, that’s just great!”

* * *

 

An hour later, wearing a full set of bio sensors but without the containment suit, Spencer walked into the alien’s suite.  For the first time he faced them head on, with nothing in between.  Amazingly, they weren’t the great unknown anymore.  They were simply people, stuck in an impossible situation, and trying desperately to help a friend.

He smiled at the Captain, who smiled back, and gestured that his suit was gone.  He nodded; it was a risk he had to take, although not an unfounded one.  Their tests had so far shown that the aliens carried similar bacteria and similar antibodies to humans; as if somewhere in the distant past they had swapped bacteria loads.  They would wait another two days to truly lift quarantine, but based on what they had Spencer was willing to take this risk.  After all, he thought, I survived anthrax.

He pointed to her, made the gesture for talking, and then pointed to his mind again just to clarify:  She talks with her mind?  The Captain nodded yes.

He pointed to the Captain this time:  Do you talk with your mind?  No, she shook her head, then pointed to herself and her ear, then made the talking gesture and shook her head:  I listen, I don’t talk.  Then she pointed to the other two and shook her head to both talking and listening.  That confirmed his theory; you had to have a certain Gamma wave pattern for the telepathy to function.

He pointed to Crewman C, then made the talking gesture and pointed to himself:  She talks to me.  He reversed the gestures:  I’m going to talk to her.  The Captain took a deep breath…and nodded.

“Please help me,” said the woman in the corner.

Spencer turned and for the first time acknowledged her.  “Yes.”

* * *

 

Emily watched this entire proceeding through the observation window.  She watched Spencer enter the room, look at Crewman C, and then exchange gestures with the Captain.  And then she watched as Spencer turned and looked at the corner.  “Yes.”

A heartbeat later, his Gamma waves started to spike as he collapsed to the floor.

Son of a bitch.

 

 

 

 


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 3
> 
> The workings of the human heart are the profoundest mystery of the universe.
> 
> \- Charles W. Chesnutt

 

**Chapter 22**

“What the hell happened?”  The General yelled.

Not that anyone could tell him.  Spencer was still hooked up to all the wiring, he was breathing, his heart was beating normally, and everything else appeared fine.  But his Gamma waves were nearly off the charts, and the rest of it wasn’t far behind.  That remarkable brain of his was revving about as hard as it could go.  As quickly as she could Emily pulled back into a suit and ran into the room next to the one they were using for Crewman C, where the medical team was laying Spencer out on the bed.  “Reid? Reid!” 

No reply.  Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

She ran back into the other room and looked at the Captain.  “Do you know what happened?”  She asked and gestured.  But from the woman’s shocked face and firm shake of her head she could tell she didn’t know either.  Great.

Emily went back to Spencer’s bedside.  As the medical people bustled around she reached out and gently removed his glasses, putting them on the table beside the bed.  Oh little brother, she thought, you’d better come back from this adventure.

* * *

 

One moment Spencer was standing in the isolation unit of the Ft. Detrick hospital, the next he was standing on another planet.

At least as near as he could tell he was.  The sky over his head was still blue, speaking of a sun with similar wavelengths, but it was slightly shifted to green.  And the city he saw a ways off boasted an architecture that didn’t exist anywhere on earth.  From the surrounding it seemed like he was in a large city park, standing on what felt like a walkway made of blue bricks lined with trees, surrounded by gently rolling lawns.

Only something was wrong.  Something was clearly wrong with everything.  The grass around him was brown, almost burned over, and in large patches black, almost melting into black goo.  The trees were the same, the leaves had mostly melted and the melt was running down the trunks.  He didn’t touch but he did lean in to sniff and he caught the distinct scent of raw petrochemicals.  They were converting into raw crude oil, he realized, right before his eyes, the grass was turning into pools of it; even the bricks were slowly starting to convert.

The breeze brought him the sound of someone crying.

He walked in that direction.  Around a corner and he could see that the walkway ended at a building.  From what he could see at first it was built in a U shape, with the open ends facing the converging walkways.  The two wings were about three stories tall, the main building at the back closer to five or six, with a dome on top.  It looked like it was made of some cream colored stone, ornamented with fine carvings, but now the carvings were cracked and broken.  Indeed, the place looked to have severe structural damage, and might even be dangerous to enter.

  In the center a few steps led up to a courtyard, a place that should have been the sort of pleasant place to meet friends, with tables and chairs and white cloth screens overhead for shade and a rock wall fountain.  But the fountain was off and foul, the awnings were hanging in shreds, the tables and chairs knocked every which way and here as well, the plants were melting.  Spencer took a closer look at some of the plants.  They looked like, and as it turned out they were, rose bushes.  Not something similar, but actual rose bushes, of the kind that filled many an earth garden.  Interesting, he thought.

He caught sight of the room in one of the wings of the building and went to peer through the windows.  Inside seemed to be a large open space, with what looked like some kind of ornate artwork set around the edges.  But all of it appeared to be covered in some fine black soot or powder.  A check of the other wing also showed a large space, but one that appeared to be dotted around with children’s toys.

The weeping was coming from the inside of the building.

Spencer pushed open the heavy, ornate doors leading in to the center of the building.  The entry space wasn’t large, and was delineated by a slightly lowered ceiling and a slightly raised floor, all carved with ornate writing he couldn’t read.  He had to go down a few steps once he reached the main hall, to a floor set with a compass rose.

It was a library.

It stood five stories above the floor, each story edged with delicately carved white railings, frosted like lace, and beyond them shelf after shelf of books.  They rose to what should have been a brilliant and ornate stained glass ceiling.  But all of it had been tumbled, the delicate lace carvings were cracked and shattered and even the supporting columns showed damage.  And so much black soot covered the dome that he couldn’t make out the design.

In the center of the room there was what looked like it had once been a comfortable chair, but it was knocked on its side, broken in such a way that it was no longer usable.  A lamp had also been toppled over, the glass of it shattered.  A small table still stood, but what must have been food and drink had already melted into toxic sludge.

The woman, Crewman C, was sitting there in a soot stained lace dress, huddled right in the center of it all, weeping.

This was her, he realized, her mental and emotional world, envisioned into a structure that she could manipulate at will. Someone must have taught her this, he realized, to enable her to control and use her remarkable ability.  But an attack like that takes control away, it shatters it whole, and the damage reflects that.  She can’t come out because with her sense of self shattered like this she can’t control her powers.  She needs to heal enough to control it. 

And he had never been able to turn away from a victim.

Spencer carefully eased down to the floor to sit next to her.  She looked up at him through ink black curls.  “They came in here!”  She sobbed out.  “They destroyed everything!”

“I know.”  He said gently.  “I’m sorry this happened to you.”  All he could do was open his arms for her.

She accepted the offer, and he held her while she wept.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

“So what do we do now?”  The General asked.

Emily was the last one left from the communications team, it was all on her.  But she knew her limitations.  “We need to interview the Captain more intensively.”  She said.  “But I cannot do it alone.  And we’re going to have to risk breaking the bio-protocol to do it.”

“That means a potential seven day quarantine after.”

“Whatever it takes.”

“All right, who do you need?”

* * *

 

Once again they came back from a case to find an Air Force officer waiting.  “Agent Prentiss has requested Agent Morgan’s help.”  Strauss said.

“Prentiss, not Reid?”  Hotch asked.

“Apparently there’s a problem.”

“Blake?”  Hotch asked.

“They won’t tell me.”  Blake replied.

“I got it.”  Morgan said.  “Just let me swap my go-bag.” 

* * *

 

Morgan walked in to a very busy hospital that distinctly felt like a shitstorm was going down.  Thankfully Emily was waiting for him.  “This is going to sound crazy.”  She said.

“Okay, if that’s the first thing out of your mouth then this can’t be good.  First off, where’s Reid?  Strauss said there was a problem.”  Emily gestured to one of the windows on the far side of the room.  Morgan looked and saw his little brother in a hospital bed, all wired up, out cold.  Oh hell.  “Not again.”

“No, something completely different this time; he seems to be perfectly healthy….”

“Lying in a bed hooked up to everything is not perfectly healthy!”

Emily sagged.  “Just let us start from the beginning.”

* * *

 

An hour later Morgan was all caught up, at least they meant for him to be all caught up, he still felt like he was running behind.  “Aliens?”

“Humanoid aliens,” Emily confirmed.  “I know how crazy it sounds but Morgan there is an honest-to-god spaceship sitting on the tarmac at Andrews and for all that those people look human at least half the test they have done have confirmed that they are not.  They have extra bones and metabolize drugs differently and apparently at least some of them are telepathic.”

Morgan got up to have a look.  There were four of them in there, one girl lying in a bed of her own, two guys just hanging and one, well, if his little brother wasn’t lying in a hospital bed he’d take a moment to admire the tight curves and that cinnamon satin skin.  Then she turned to look at him, or at the mirror and he realized three things, those were the most intelligent warm brown eyes he’d ever seen, that woman was seriously confident and in command and… “That woman is pushing end of her tether.”  He said.

“From what we can tell she’s the Captain.  The other woman is apparently telepathic; Reid started seeing her as soon as they came into proximity.  We think it’s because their brainwaves most closely align.”  Emily sighed. 

“Okay, but how did he go from seeing her to this?”

“They had her in an isolation stretcher, probably to protect her.  When they finally pulled her out we realized her injuries were consistent with rape.”  Morgan groaned.  Emily nodded.  “She was asking him for help.  You try getting him to say no to a victim.”

“So he said yes, opened communication and…”

“…collapsed.  Now the only recourse we have for information is the Captain.  We need to do in depth interviews and we have no common language.”

“And your first thought was me?”

Emily smiled.  “Well, you’re so good at charades.”  It was a moment, then she sobered.  “We can go in without the isolation gear; they’re ninety percent certain we’ll be okay.  But if something comes up on the last round of tests we’re looking at a minimum of a seven day quarantine.”

“It’s Reid.”  He replied, “Whatever it takes.”

All of a sudden alarms started going off.

* * *

 

“What’s your name?”  Spencer asked the woman cowering in his lap.

“Sarai.  What’s yours?”

“Spencer.  You said you needed my help?”

“I need to put this place back together or else...”  She sighed and nearly started crying again.  “I think I hurt a lot of people.  I lost control and I….”

“Shhhh.  It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not!”  She insisted, pulling back to sit on the floor next to him.  “We have to stay in control of ourselves all the time.  Control through discipline, that’s what Grandma always said.  I lost control and people got hurt and then they came through and….”

“All right, all right.  I understand.  But I don’t think your Grandmother could have envisioned this happening to you.”  Ok, this would be the first hard part.  “Why don’t we start with what happened.”

Sarai lifted her hand to his temple, and showed him.

* * *

 

“Reid?”  Emily and Morgan hurried over to the observation window.  “What’s going on?”  She asked.

“His heart rate and respiration are spiking, he’s having a convulsion.”  Someone said.

“What do we give him?”  Someone else asked.  “How do you treat being….I don’t know, talked to by a telepath?”

Thankfully by the time they were ready to give him anything it was stopping, leaving him lying there in a cold sweat.  “Okay, let’s not do that again.”  The Doctor said.

* * *

 

“Okay, let’s not do that again.”  Spencer said as soon as he had her hand off his temple.  His heart was pounding, he was shaking and he was still terrified out of his wits by what he had experienced.

For a moment he had been a woman.

He wasn’t entirely certain what had shocked him more, how his body had been different or how it hadn’t been different.  In nearly every way it had been so very much the same, but in some ways it had been different enough to frighten him.  It probably didn’t help that he had been naked, strapped to some kind of chair or table, and some very alien alien had been looking him over while very frightening machinery moved overhead. 

Breasts, he decided.  Genitals were genitals, and having them exposed in such a vulnerable position would be terrifying to either sex.  But having two equally sensitive spots right there on his chest, front and center, and being unable to protect them had been horrible. His arms actually felt sore from the effort to get free and cover them.  No wonder the women donned their Kevlar 15% more often than the men, if he had breasts he’d wear his vest every time he went out in public.

Thankfully he’d pulled free before the actual rape.

But right before that happened he’d felt something, a fear and a terrifying level of vulnerability that was actually familiar.  “You’re not responsible.”  He said to her.  “Really, you’re not.”

“How can you say that?”  She asked.

“Because I know what it’s like to have someone drug you.”  He lifted her hand to his temple and showed her.

 


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Before they could get Morgan in the scientists came up to Emily.  “We want to try monitoring Crewman C again.”  One said.

“Wouldn’t that just blow out another EEG machine?”

“We’re thinking that maybe she was so upset she was out of control, but if Dr. Reid is helping…”

Emily sighed.  “I’ll ask.”

* * *

 

“Why did he do it?”  Sarai asked.

Spencer sighed.  He had never actually shared the memory of his time with Tobias Hankle with anyone before, he hadn’t even spoken about it all that often.  “He wanted to help me.”  He said.  “He honestly didn’t understand that his father was dead and that he was the one doing those things.  He was trying to protect me from his father.  Why do you think they did that to you?”

She flushed a rosy pink but held her head high.  “Make me lose control.  That doesn’t just apply to Nobles…that…is not something my people do casually.  Turning anyone into someone who can…reward the traitors who work with them isn’t an easy task.  From what I could tell when I woke up there it takes drugs and…practice.”

“Ouch.”  Unfortunately he knew enough about human trafficking to know that her assessment of their intentions was fairly accurate.  “This may sound awful but I’m kind of glad you lost control.”

“We’re not supposed to.”  She replied.  “Not to say that I shouldn’t have used my ability to break free but I should have controlled it.”

“Yes, but once they drugged you that was impossible.”  He reached out and gently cupped her cheek, heedless of the black soot that smudged her skin.  “I don’t think there’s anything here that needs to be forgiven, but if so then on behalf of everyone else I forgive you.”

That finally got him a smile.

* * *

 

The Captain nodded her permission and even helped.  Within a few moments they had Crewman C on the same monitors as Reid.  “At least she didn’t blow it out this time.”  Someone said.  “Wonder what that means.”

“It means he’s helping her, she’s no longer in distress.”  Emily replied.  She looked over at Morgan.  Now they had to help him.

* * *

 

OK, he had a game plan, he had a box full of props, he had NASA and the Air Force and he didn’t know what all else ready to move mountains to help him, all Derek Morgan had to do now was somehow communicate with the aliens.  And that meant going in there.  Here’s to hoping they don’t smell fear.

The three of them were congregating in Crewman C’s room, the two guys hanging, the Captain looking worried.  He stopped a polite distance away and got her attention.  “Can we talk?  In there?”  He asked, using gestures with the words and pointing to the common room.

* * *

 

The last one who’d come in here without a suit hadn’t lasted long.  Yeave had been quite certain that they were going to just shoot Sarai, shoot them all or something, for harming one of their people.  Honestly she had no clue what she was going to do next; everything was just falling apart around her.  Now she was honestly surprised to see another one.

This one actually spoke.  Not a clue what he was saying, although his gestures indicated that he wanted to go in the other room with her.  He did have a nice voice though, deep but gentle, something that would go with the handsome face and intelligent eyes and a body that…

“Going to go with him Captain?”  Kemom asked.

“You two got any other ideas?”

“No, but we’ll watch lazy ass here.”

She smiled.  The teasing meant that they still trusted her to handle this situation somehow.  Damn.  “All right, you need me holler out.”  She turned to the big one and nodded.

* * *

 

Once in the common room Morgan sat across from her at the table, with her facing the glass so Emily could read her as well.  “You know up until now everything has been kind of urgent,” He said.  He knew she couldn’t understand but hopefully the sound of his voice would help set the tone.  “Not that it’s not anymore but I think we need to back up a few steps.”  He pointed to himself.  “Derek.”  Then he pointed to her and made a questioning gesture.  “What’s your name?”

She pointed to him and smiled a little.  “Der-ek.”  She repeated, and then pointed to herself and said something that sounded a lot like.  “Eva.”

“Eva.  Nice to meet you Captain Eva.”  He smiled and nodded and got a smile and a nod back.  “Okay, we got a start.”

* * *

 

Six hours later she was exhausted and he wasn’t far behind, but they had something they could present to everyone else.  “What do you have for us Agent Morgan?”   The General asked.

Since he was now stuck in quarantine Morgan was addressing everyone through one of the observation windows, but he was able to send his presentation directly to the board.  “First off I’d like you to meet Captain Eva from what the astrologers are telling me would be called Tau Ceti C-2 here on Earth, a previously theorized about but unconfirmed planet in the Tau Ceti system they call Quadris. “

“Eva?”

“It’s polite to refer to your friends by name, General.  We agreed on Anglicized versions of their names.  Crewman A is now Ken, Crewman B is now Andy and Crewman C is now Sarah.”

“Okay.  Do we know why they’re here?”

“The short version is that they were looking to get Sarah there some medical help.”

“Here?”

“That’s what she told me.”

“Why would they risk the Kuipler Belt for medical help?”  Someone asked.

“Not sure yet.  But from everything I can tell they’re not a threat.  If anything they might represent our potential first interstellar ally.”

“All right, what do you have?”  The General settled back to listen.

“Okay, from what I could tell their ship is what they consider a short range scout.  They’re part of the compliment of a larger ship; the best analogy we could come up with was an aircraft carrier.  Now I’m not certain of the exact numbers on this ship because Reid’s the math person but from what I could tell it’s pretty large.  Their carrier is the center of what we would call a carrier group, which is one of three carrier groups from their home planet.”

“If that’s all military that’s a lot of fire power.”  The General pointed out.

Morgan nodded.  “There’s more.  They’ve joined forces with carrier groups from six other planets to form three large armadas that are constantly patrolling out area of space.  From what I can tell it’s just a matter of time before our telescopes pick up one of them at some point.”

“So you’re saying there are seven habitable worlds out there?”  Someone asked in awe.

“No, it looks like there are several hundred habitable worlds out there.  The seven she mentioned are similar to the Allies back in World War II, major powers, but there are a number of smaller worlds out there, and I think she was trying to say colonies as well.  Now these pictures aren’t the best, I don’t know how to get our computers to interface but if we need it I know someone who probably can.  For now I just held my tablet up to hers and got the images that way.  As near as I can tell this was news footage of a gathering of representatives from all the Allied planets.”

They watched for a few moments until… “They’re all humanoid!”  Someone said.

“That’s what it sounds like.  They can all live on each other’s planet, which means they could all probably survive on this planet.  That alliance is of all the humanoid inhabited worlds at this end of the galaxy.”

“Why did they have to go military?”  The General asked.

Morgan sighed.  “Because they’re at war.”  He put up another picture of a…thing that was very much less than humanoid.  “She called this the ‘Olan’, and referred to their soldiers as ‘eks’, at least that’s how it sounded.”  He put up another picture, this time of a giant robot destroying a city.  “Apparently these ‘eks’ are actually some kind of mechanized weapons system, but she couldn’t tell me much about them with the communication we have.  She indicated that their planet was the first major power attacked.”

“If they were the first one’s attacked then how did they manage to field those carrier groups?”  Someone asked.

“Don’t know yet.  The good news is that she insists that the ‘eks’ can’t make it through the Kuipler belt.  Anything larger than her ship or any eks would be disabled coming through.  We have a natural shield against this war.”

“I don’t know that we want in on it.”  The General said. 

“No, but if they need a safe haven for a space station or something we might be able to swap, say, space on the moon for technology.”  Someone else pointed out.  “There is potential here.”

“But we’re not going to be able to tap it until we learn more.”  Emily pointed out.  She looked over at Morgan.  “Think we can?”

He shrugged.  “I’m going to try again after lunch.  Wish me luck.”

 


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Spencer looked up at the towering stacks of the library, what had to be her memories, her dreams.  “I feel like I’m asking something very personal.”  He said.  “But you asked me to help.”

“I did.”  Sarai replied.  “I don’t…I mean, I know how to fix this but I just…”

How did you just wander around inside someone’s mind?  “Show me around.”  He said.  “Let me see what I can do.”

* * *

 

They brought lunch over from the mess hall as they had been.  It was the first time the two planets had sat down for a meal together.  They really were enjoying it as much as they appeared to have been through the glass.  “What do you eat?”  He asked in words and gestures.

Eva said something to Ken, who went to one of the lockers and brought back a pouch about the size of an MRE.  It seemed to function a lot like an MRE as well, inside there were smaller packets.  One contained a round, tan puck with a nonspecific savory scent, a chunky texture and a sort of an almost soy burger flavor.  Another pouch was opened for him, Ken showing him how to hold it and shake it slightly as it rehydrated from the moisture in the air, which had a sort of starchy flavor and the texture of gritty instant potatoes.  A third pack was the same color and texture but had an almost sweet taste, and a fourth pack had a chunk of what he would call hard tack but it tasted almost cheesy.  All of it was highly processed, clearly meant to store on a ship for long periods of time.  He didn’t swallow any of it, which they seemed to find bleakly amusing. 

Morgan picked up his tablet and found the picture of the aircraft carrier from earlier.  “What do you eat back on the main ship?”  He asked.  They pointed to the same rations.  “What do you eat on a planet?”  He asked, pointing to one of the other worlds.  Ken pointed to the three of them, no four, or perhaps it was a more all encompassing gesture, and pointed to the same rations.  “You eat this on your world?”  Seriously?

No, apparently not.  They all looked at each other, somehow saddened by the question.  Eva picked up her computer and started going through it, looking for things.  He looked at the other two.  “What?”  He asked, but they just gestured for him to wait.

It didn’t take long before she was nudging him to show him.

* * *

 

“Books,” Spencer said when they climbed to one of the higher floors.  Books lay everywhere, jumbled into piles, falling off the shelves, sliding as they walked past.  “Have you really studied this much.”

“No.  Some of it is stuff I still want to study.”  Sarai picked up one and showed him the pages waiting to be written.  “It’s all dreams I want for my people.”

“Your people?”

She nodded, “The Quadrainian people.  When we move to our new planet.  Just surviving isn’t enough, after all they’ve been through they deserve so much more.”  She looked around the library, the shelves and shelves full of books.  “These are all my dreams for them.”

“Why do they have to move to a new planet?”

* * *

 

Morgan had been sitting ‘talking’ with Eva for some time, looking grimmer as time went on.  To minimize the number of people at risk Emily went in with a containment suit.  “What did you find?’” she asked.

“What happened to their planet,” Morgan replied.  “Here, check it out.  It looks like it starts with some kind of, I don’t know, Chamber of Commerce video or something.

* * *

 

“Grandma said it was beautiful.”  Sarai told Spencer.  “Peaceful, not overly populated, everyone had what they needed and more.  Most of the surface was devoted to either agriculture or wild lands, our parks were known throughout the galaxy.”

“Is that what you did, agriculture?”  She looked confused and he smiled.  “I’m sorry; I assumed some kind of interstellar commerce.”

“Oh!  Yes, there is but we didn’t export products.  We exported knowledge.  Our universities were the finest in the League worlds, highly competitive, everyone wanted to study there.  We had more scholars and researchers than anywhere else.  And of course we had the Nobles, we were the only planet to support evolution that far.”

“Nobles?”

“Yes, our nobility.  I’m not certain how to explain our government but we had a noble class, a King and Lords and Ladies.  Granted we also had a representative government…”

“Hold on.”  He’d picked up on a way to gently touch concepts from her mind and draw them into his, when language didn’t suffice.  Now he lightly brushed her temple to capture this one.  “We call it a Constitutional Monarchy.  I’m familiar with the concept.”

“Our Nobles were all highly evolved, and they only married within the Noble class to keep it that way.”

“Highly evolved?”

“Yes.  They can do things with their minds like, well, like how I brought you here.”  She reached out her hand and a book floated off a shelf and lightly into her grasp, “Among other things.”

“Telepathy,” he said, realizing what she meant, “Telekinesis.  Astral projection, that’s why I was seeing you.”

She nodded, “Among other things.”

“So you’re of the Nobility?”

“Actually if I can make it to my thirtieth birthday I’ll be the Queen.”

* * *

 

Morgan and Emily watched the travelogue for a time, seeing a world with lots of open space, elegant cities, comfortable villages, what looked like universities.  And then Eva switched to another video, this one was hurried, jumpy.  After a moment they saw why, there was an aerial bombardment going on.  “The Olan?”  Emily asked.

Morgan nodded.  “Looks like.  Here.”  There were these large, mechanical things crawling like ants all over the city, turning buildings into rubble as they went.  “This is as far as I got.”

Eva changed videos.  This was hidden camera video, terrified, desperate people of all ages and conditions being herded into large pens by these large robot like beings.  “Labor camps,” Morgan said.  “Has to be.”

There was more hidden video; people shoveling rubble into crushers, other people separating out the remains, people tossing books into what looked like some kind of chippers.  “They made them destroy everything.”  Emily said, “Their entire culture.”  Another video showed people methodically spraying plants with something that caused them to start wilting immediately, turning into a black-brown sludge which was then sucked up into large tanks.  “They made them destroy all the plant life.”  They sprayed it on herded animals as well, which convulsed and died as they melted.  “It looks like all living things.”  Finally she showed mining underway.  “They must have just stripped it of every possible resource.”

“More than that, they made _them_ strip it of all the resources.”  Morgan pointed out.  “That’s scorched earth tactics, that’s how you destroy a people, make them know that they aren’t ever going home.”

The last hidden camera showed people being herded onboard a spaceship by mechanized monsters.  “Why?”  Emily asked.

Morgan looked particularly pissed, “Slavery.”  He said, “Has to be.  Where were your leaders during all this?  Your leaders, your, um…”  He found a graphic online showing something like a chain of command.  “Your leaders?  Does this make sense?  Leaders?”

It took a moment but then Eva got it and nodded.  She looked down at her tablet a long moment and then called up another video.  Another hidden camera shot, it showed a line of men in uniforms being made to climb a platform… “They executed the leaders.”  Emily said.  “Probably to break morale, prevent them from leading an uprising.”

But Eva had tears in her eyes.  “What?”  Morgan asked.  “Is that…personal?”  He wasn’t certain if he got the point across.

She pulled over a piece of paper, drew two similar symbols, connected them with a line, and then drew a line down to a third symbol like the first.  She pointed to the first and to Emily, then the second to him, then the third and made a motion like she was rocking a baby.  “Are you saying family?”  Morgan found a picture of two parents walking a child between them.  He pointed to the first symbol and to the woman, the second and to the man and the third and to the child.  “Yeah?’  She nodded.  He re-drew it with stick figures, woman, and man.  “Okay, family.”  Eva drew a line down to a third, female figure, then pointed to herself.  “That’s you.”  Morgan said, pointing to her.  She nodded, then pointed from the male figure to one of the men standing on the gallows.  “And that’s your father.  Damn.”  He looked at her with all sympathy in his eyes.  He knew how that hurt.  “I’m sorry.”  She smiled a little and made the now familiar gesture for thank you.  Then she pointed to the man in the center of the gallows, pointed to the father, and pointed past them to Sarah’s bed.  “And that’s her father.  Well, now I know why you two joined up.”

* * *

 

“I’m sorry.”  Spencer said.

“I never even met my father.”  Sarai admitted.  “Or my mother, they captured her not long after I was born.  She died under torture; they wanted to find out where the rest of the remaining Nobles were hiding.  And my brother was taken to safety when our planet was first attacked, he was never seen again.  So there was just me and Gram.  Now I’m the only one left to rally our people.”

“What will you do if you win?”

“The League promised us that we could have another planet, one we can teraform.  We don’t have a gene bank but they promised us samples from all of the inhabited worlds so we can choose which ones we want.  We’re going to be a people with a home again, one that will support a Noble class as well as the kind of universities and rich culture we once had.  And I’m dammed well going to see to it, given what my people have endured they deserve the chance to make a better life for their descendents.”

 


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

“I’m sorry.”  Spencer said.

“I never even met my father.”  Sarai admitted.  “Or my mother, they captured her not long after I was born.  She died under torture; they wanted to find out where the rest of the remaining Nobles were hiding.  And my brother was taken to safety when our planet was first attacked, he was never seen again.  So there was just me and Gram.  Now I’m the only one left to rally our people.”

“What will you do if you win?”

“The League promised us that we could have another planet, one we can teraform.  We don’t have a gene bank but they promised us samples from all of the inhabited worlds so we can choose which ones we want.  We’re going to be a people with a home again, one that will support a Noble class as well as the kind of universities and rich culture we once had.  And I’m dammed well going to see to it, given what my people have endured they deserve the chance to make a better life for their descendents.”

* * *

 

“So how did you go from that to this?”  Emily asked, indicating the slave ship and Eva’s uniform.

In reply Eva showed other videos, this one taken by some sort of uniform cam.   It was taken by soldiers after they took control of a ship, one that contained row after row of cells holding suffering people.  But those soldiers…  “They are not like you.”  Morgan said. 

Eva pointed to another spot on the star chart they were using as a map, one of the major powers.  “Eridian,” she said.

“They were rescued by an ally.”  Emily nodded.  Eva pointed to the major powers on the chart and then to the navy fleet they were using as an example of their own, then indicated that they gave the Quadrainians the ships.  “Why?”  Emily asked in gestures.  “What did you give them?”

Eva was quiet a moment, clearly considering how to explain.  She pointed to the male figure, then made the sign they were using for talking with your mind, then pointed to a number of men on the gallows, including Sarah’s father but not hers.  “They killed the male telepaths.”  Morgan said.  Then she pointed to the same men and indicated her uniform.  “They were all in the military, maybe officers.  They were probably killed first, that’s a potent weapon” 

Then Eva pointed to the female stick figure, made the sign for telepathy, and then pointed to her uniform and shook her head.  “The women weren’t military.  What did they do?”  Eva pointed to the child.  “They stayed home with the babies.  I guess some things are universal.”  Eva pointed to the ships and pulled them to her, indicating receiving the help, then called up another video.  It showed people in a smaller, more crowded village.  “That looks like a refugee camp.  Your people?”  Eva nodded and started indicating the major powers.  “They took them in as refugees.”  Eva then pointed to the women figure, indicated telepathy, and then to her uniform.  “In exchange the female telepaths went to war.  I wonder how many generations of tradition that broke.  What about the children?”  Eva pointed to the film of the gallows, then pointed to indicate today, made a gesture of negation, made the gesture for telepathy, and rocked a baby.  “The telepaths haven’t had any children.  Why?”  Eva fingered her uniform.  “They went to war instead.  Why?”  Eva pointed to the refugee camp, as if she was giving something to them.  “They did it for their people.  Damn.  How many telepaths are left?”  Eva shrugged held up two fingers, then added one more.  “They’re almost out of telepaths.”

* * *

 

“Of course there is the Genetics Bank.”  Sarai said as they slowly walked downstairs.

“The Genetics bank?”  Spencer asked.

“Everyone donates gametes so that their offspring can be carried to term by a surrogate, so we don’t lose our people completely.  For decades now our people have mostly been carried to term by volunteer surrogates from our allies.  We’ve had new recruits coming in who can barely speak Quadrainian.  They don’t know anything about home, their parents and their families are all from another planet.  But they’re all fiercely proud and loyal; they want to fight for a home of their own.”

“But no Nobles?” 

“No.  Becoming a Noble isn’t just about genetics, although that is a big part of it.  It’s also about environmental factors and how the child is nurtured and educated.  But the Genetics banks hold gametes from Nobles, when we have the proper environment we’ll ask for volunteers to bear and raise children from those combinations.  We’ll have our Nobles back with us within a generation.”

“And you think people will volunteer?”

“Of course!  Bearing a Noble child is an honor, parents of first generation Nobles are always given the highest respect.”

* * *

 

“Are telepaths really that valuable though?”  Morgan asked.  All of a sudden there was a frantic knocking on the glass behind them.  They turned to look and saw one of the researchers pointing down toward Sarah’s room.  They hustled down there and stopped at the door, shocked.

Like most rooms where people are being monitored her room contained a number of machines on portable stands, one to measure her heart activity, another to measure her brain waves, an IV pole, a rolling utility table and so on.  And at that moment everything not attached firmly to the wall was floating a good two feet in the air.  Ken and Andy were looking at it all, clearly shocked themselves.  “What the hell?”  Emily said as she turned to look at Eva.  “Is this her?”

Eva took a deep breath…and nodded.

“So it’s not just telepathy it’s also telekinesis.  What else can she do?”

Eva had her tablet under her arm.  She looked back down at it as she slowly walked back to the meeting table, not at all bothered by the floating furniture, trailing a small parade of people.  She found a video and showed them.  It was a static shot taken of what looked like a large warehouse full of different kinds of ships, each tethered to the wall.  She sorted through the pictures until she found one of their ship and pointed to a small protrusion on the side, before making a camera snapping gesture.  Then she pointed to a picture of the Olan and then to a carrier, only indicated that the ship was somewhat smaller.  “This is an Olan ship?”  Morgan asked.  She made the gesture for inside.  “This was taken inside an Olan ship?”  He matched the gestures.  “Hopefully I got that right.”

As they watched the shot it was impossible to tell what was happening.  Then things seemed to ripple slightly.  Then harder.  Then they noticed a distinct ripple going through a bulkhead.  Then all of a sudden a wave of destruction went through the ship.  None of the smaller ships were harmed, but the structures around them were bent and warped severely.  Eva reached over and fast forwarded and as they flew away they saw the ship floating dead in space.  “She did that?”  Morgan asked.  Eva nodded.  “With her brain?”  Eva nodded again.

“How big is that?”  Emily asked.

“About the size of a small aircraft carrier,” Morgan replied.  “How big of a blast are we talking?”

“We might be up in the kiloton range.  Did that happen when she was hurt?”  Emily used the sign for broken.  “So when she was raped she lost control, which makes sense.  Reid said she was asking for help, she probably needed help getting that control back.”

“So we’ve got a woman who can set off the equivalent of a nuclear warhead with her mind and right now the only thing helping her keep control over all that is Reid?”

“Yeah.”

Morgan looked over to where Spencer was lying in a hospital bed.  “I hope he had enough coffee this morning.”

* * *

 

“What about you?”  Spencer asked as they reached the floor again.

“What about me?”

“Did you leave your gametes behind?”

“Uh, no.  Grandma reprogrammed the computer system to hide my identity until I was old enough for the crown.”

“But do your plan to carry on your bloodline?”  All of a sudden some masonry fell and hit the floor with a loud bang.  He jumped about ten feet.  “Maybe we shouldn’t discuss that right now.”

Sarai seemed just as surprised as he was, “Maybe not.  Can you help me put the structure back together?”  She sounded a little desperate.

“How?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More comments get faster updates


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

“Math?”  Spencer asked in surprise.

Sarai nodded, “Yeah.  Grandma always said that it explained the basic structure of the universe.  All the Nobles had to study it while they learned how to control their abilities.  But I just can’t seem to focus right now and…”

“Of course,” he murmured gently.  Controlling this would require the ability to think dispassionately, to retreat to the cool calm of logic and facts and things that work in predictable ways.  That’s what math was to him, a mental retreat, a safe haven.  An assault like this would leave someone open and raw, uncontrolled emotions going everywhere, no logic, no predictability.  No wonder she was afraid of going out into the world like that.  “Probably a good thing I studied math.”  He said as they sat at the bottom of the stairs.  “Why don’t we start with the basics?”

“Like what?”  She sat beside him, hugging her knees to her chest.

“Well, like one plus one always equals two.”  As soon as he thought that a light seemed to flow from his hand to hers.  And in the base of the wall next to him a brick appeared, shoring up a dangerous gap.  “And two plus two equals four.”  Another light and another brick.  “Four plus four equals eight.”

Slowly but surely, fact by fact, they started rebuilding the structure around them.

* * *

 

“Look at that.”  One of the scientists marveled.

“What?”  Another asked.

Emily walked over to what they were looking at to look over shoulders.  “Dr. Reid and Crewman C, their Beta and Gamma waves have completely synched up.”

“What does that mean?”  Emily asked.

“I have no idea.” He admitted.  “It’s fascinating though.”

“It’s creepy is what it is.”  Emily shuddered and looked at the still form in the bed.  “You’d better be right about this Reid.”

* * *

 

“I’m sorry, Captain.”  Kemom said.

Yeave wiped the dampness away from under her eyes, “About what?”

“Having to talk about what happened.  Doesn’t seem like something easy.”

“It’s not, but at least now they know what we’re dealing with.”

“You going to tell them about finding your uncle?”

“Not yet.  I’m going to give princess here tonight to wake up.”

* * *

 

“Okay so oh my god what happened to Reid?”  Garcia asked.

Emily sighed.  “I can’t talk about it.”

“Is he okay?”

Sigh, “I honestly don’t know right now.”

Silence on the other end.  “Is he gonna…”

“We don’t know Garcia.”  She finally let some of the worry come out into her voice.  “We just don’t know.  But if so…”  Sigh.  “…it’s a really big deal, like Nichols big.  And…he’s living out a dream.”

Silence on the other end.  “Well that’s what matters I guess.”  Garcia sounded so sad.  “I just hope he can come back and tell us all about it.  Hey, Matt called, he was looking for you.  What do you want me to tell him?”

Emily sighed again.  She finally found someone wonderful and now all of this was overwhelming everything.  “Tell him I’ll call him as soon as work lets me go.”

“Okay.”

* * *

 

It didn’t seem like long before the work was done.  White tracery and cream stone was now reinforced with brown marble and brass, but it was a solid structure, it would let her keep her abilities contained and focused.  “Thank you.”  Sarai murmured as their hands slowly parted.

“Anytime,” Spencer replied.  “Most people don’t, um, appreciate logic like that.”

“It’s always been a comfort.”  She looked up at the tower.  It was not back to what it had been, indeed it never would return to that, but at least now it was sound.  “I don’t want to leave here.  It doesn’t feel safe just yet.”

Spencer nodded.  It wasn’t lack of control this time.  No, this had more to do with the attack itself.  He looked at the piles and piles of books around them.  “All of these dreams are for your people, what here is for you?”

“That,” she pointed to the toppled over chair and lamp, the slowly rotting table.  “All I ever really wanted for myself.  Someplace quiet, without a lot of people, a chance to sit snug and warm and read as long as I wished.  Maybe a cup of rinan if I was lucky.”

“Rinan?”

“It’s this hot, sweet drink.  My Grandma used to give me a cup on my birthday.”

“And that’s your big dream?”  He gently brushed his knuckles over her temple and caught a vision of life in a refugee camp, the small hut that held her and her grandmother and two others, the crowded conditions, the lack of true warmth and the constant pressure of thousands of minds around her.  Another brush brought him the ship, people, rations, the constant hum of machinery, a life of hard edges.  Of course, her dearest dream was simply quiet, warmth, companionship, and to be accepted as she was, in whole.  “Why is it toppled over?”

“I don’t know that I can ever feel that again.”

“You can.  But I know it will take a while to feel that way.  Here.”  Her broken chair and rotting table disappeared.  They were replaced by two chairs of white padded leather, set across a wooden table set with a mug of coffee and a mug of something else.  To one side a curved wall stood in the middle of the room, with a widow that let in sunlight.  He stood and brought her to one of the chairs before sitting across from her.  “I think this is similar to what your Grandmother gave you.  We call it hot chocolate.”

“Oh.”  She sipped at her mug and a slow smiled passed across her face.  “It’s perfect.  Is this part of your safe spot?”

“Yeah,” he replied.  “You always feel safe on the plane.”

* * *

 

“So what’s our next move?”  Emily asked.

“Well if their brains keep matching up like they are then tomorrow we try to ask Eva what it means.”  Morgan replied.  “If she can’t figure it out then we try moving Reid to the hospital on the other side of the base.”

“Will that help him or kill him?”

“I wish I knew.” 

 


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

The next morning they had an announcement.  “We’re lifting bio-containment.”

“Sure about that?”  Emily asked.

“We haven’t been able to come up with anything.”  The scientists in charge of that team said.  “It’s almost like at one point in the past we exchanged bacterial loads.  Thanks to Ken and Andy in there being so willing to give samples the only things we haven’t checked for are STD’s.  We’re good.”

“Well that will make our lives easier.”

* * *

 

“Hey, they’re finally letting us outside.”  Both men piled out the back door to the small, well-guarded outdoor area and flopped on the grass.

“Remember, we haven’t been planetside in years.”  Yeave told them from the doorway.  “Don’t get a UV burn.”

“Yes, Captain.”

* * *

 

They talked for a while, Spencer and Sarai, about favorite foods and much loved books and cozy times.  As they did, the space around them changed, from the plane to his mother’s bed to her grandmother’s hearth to his dorm room at CalTech.  Somehow in the end they ended up in the last place he would have expected, one that felt completely right.  “What is this place?”  She asked as she tucked her legs up under her and settled back against the couch pillows

“It’s a friend’s cabin, up in the woods.  He left me the keys when he went away.  It’s empty now but we can fix it up.”  He smiled.  “Lots of space for books, a kitchen where we can cook anything we want and no people for miles.”  He whispered the last like the temptation it was.

She smiled shyly in return, but shook her head.  “My people need me.”

In all of that, in the sharing of stories and favorites, Spencer had also caught images of her life, growing up in hiding in a refugee camp, entering the military, life on the carrier as a telepath and what it meant for people to think you were a ‘null’.  “Your people need you healthy.”  He replied.  “I think they’d understand taking a few days.”  He smiled into his cup.  “Is that and the promise of hot chocolate enough to get us out of here?”

She was quiet a moment.  “Maybe, I guess.”  She said eventually.  She set her cup aside with that, and tried to knock the soot off her dress.

“Where is that coming from?”  He asked.  He’d noticed it settling on her dress and skin several times.

She smiled nervously and shook her head.  “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does if it’s bothering you.”  He watched a bit more float toward her and traced the path back to one of the wings that wrapped around the courtyard.  The courtyard, he realized, was the place where she kept with her friends and family, a place where they could come and go freely and where she could interface with them but maintain her privacy.  The wings had to represent other ways of interfacing with other people.  So what did this one mean?  He set his cup aside and got up to go look.  “May I?”  He asked when he saw a gate barring the way.

She followed more slowly, blushed when he asked.  “I’ve never let anyone in there before.”

“Have you ever let anyone in here before?”  She wrapped her arms around herself, a protective gesture.  “Please.”  He said quietly.  “Let me help you.”

She looked into his eyes then, and must have seen the right thing here.  Because the gate slowly swung open.

* * *

 

“It’s getting worse.”  Someone said.  They headed over to the monitors to look.  “Now their Theta waves are synching up too.”

They could now, so Morgan went and motioned Eva to come out and join them.  The two guys tagged along.  “That.”  He said pointing, “Is measuring their brains.”  He pointed to his head.  “That one’s him, that one’s’ her.  They’re matching up.”  He tried a gesture with his hands that might or might not work.  “What does that mean?”

Eva didn’t say have to say anything.  The look on her face was enough.

* * *

 

Morgan wasn’t the only one who noticed the look on her face.  “What is it Captain?”  Kemom asked. 

“They’re synching up.”  Yeave said.  She turned and went back to the work table in their rooms where they’d left the tablets and notes. 

“Meaning?”

“Meaning he’s a Noble of some kind, or else he couldn’t do that.”

“Okay, meaning.”

Yeave looked up at the two of them.  Sorry princess, she thought.  “Did you ever wonder how Nobles chose who to marry?”  The two guys blinked at that, and turned to look at the man on the bed.  “But it’s not just that.  It’s going to take us three generations to teraform a planet to the point where we can start having more than just a few Nobles again.  And that’s _after_ we win the war, so we don’t have to worry about the Olan coming after us.”

“So?”

“So?  So they have Nobles here.  They _can_ have Nobles here.  Here where they’re protected.  If they’ll let us maybe we can raise them here and take them to the new planet once they’re grown.”

“You kinda make it sound like raising puppies.”  Leander pointed out.

“I know.  They treat themselves that way.  Okay here.”  She found the moving pictures she was looking for.

“What are you going to do?”

“Tell them the truth.”  She looked up at their faces.  “I have to.  They’re linked now.  If we leave them in there for too long they won’t come out.”

 


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

“What is this place?”  Spencer asked. 

This wing was a large, open space, surrounded by glass.  There was an elegance about it, a grace, something delicate and special.  But it was covered in soot and dirt and grime now, the windows darkened, the walls grubby with oils.  Sarai stood in the center and looked around slowly, sadly.  “It’s a music library.”  She said with a sigh.  “At least it was supposed to be.”

“Supposed to be?”

“I don’t think anyone would want to dance here now.”  She said, hanging her head.  “Not after what happened.”

Dance.  Dance.  Maeve had wanted to dance, to teach him to dance although in his dreams he didn’t know how.  And she had, she had insisted.  She didn’t mean dance, he realized, not really, although the metaphor was apt.  “Someone will want to dance with you.”  He said.  “I know you feel like this now, but it’s not.  It’s not what I see.”

She just shook her head.  “What do you see?”

He gently brushed his fingers over her temple to show her.  She lifted her head, proud and assured now, into that touch.  And when she opened her eyes again the soot and the muck were gone, the room glittered in the light coming through the windows.  Let everyone see, he thought, we don’t need to hide.

Wait, we?

 She looked at him, standing there on the very edge of becoming something greater than he could imagine.  “Would you dance with me?” 

Spencer considered.  “That’s a question, isn’t it?  Not a request.”

She considered a moment.  “I don’t know that I’m quite ready to request yet.”

“That’s all right.”  He considered this, what he knew of her, her strength, her loyalty, her intelligence, her curiosity about the world.  And she was choosing him, him who’s hair was too long, him who wanted to dress like the Doctor again for the next con, him who preferred Sundays in his pajamas with stacks of books and boxes of breakfast cereal.   She knew all this and more, had from the moment he drew near and yet she was choosing him.  “Yeah, when you’re ready, I think, if you want to dance, we’ll, um, dance.”

Sarai smiled and stepped into his arms, and at that moment another library appeared next to hers, and the glass space of music and dance became the hall that linked the two.

* * *

 

“Hope to hell she’s got something.”  Morgan said as he and Emily followed the Captain to the table.

She did, but it wasn’t on her computer.  She had his out, and was flipping through some of the pictures and videos they had been looking at the day before.  Finally she found one and showed him, with a look and a gesture as if to say “Who is this?”

“That’s George VI I think.”  Emily said.  “He was King of England in WW II.”

“Great.  Now how do I get the concept of king across?”  Morgan pulled over some paper and started creating a pyramid of stick figures, ending with one at the top and putting a crown over his head.  “See, king.  He’s the head of everyone.  Well, not so much, but explaining democracy is going to take a while.”

But Eva seemed to get it.  Okay.  She pulled over her own paper and once again drew her family. Mother, father, and herself.  “Got that.”  He nodded.  Then above them she drew another family, this one connected to her father.  “Okay, paternal grandparents.”  She made two tick marks beside her father, then held up one-two fingers, emphasizing two.  “Okay, he was the second child.”  She gave her grandfather another son, gave him one tic mark, and held up one finger.  “One.  Okay, he was the first son.  Your uncle.  Got it.”

Okay, okay.  She held up a hand to say “hold on.”  and went out in the main room.  As they watched she went up to certain people and was looking at them…no, at their uniforms.  Then she came back in and next to her uncle she drew a decent representation of a caduceus.  She pointed to her uncle and gestured to the people she’d been looking at.  Emily looked around, they were different ranks and services, but…”Doctor.  Her uncle is a doctor.  He…fixes…broken people.”  She made the fix the break gesture and pointed to the arm Andy had broken.  That got her a grin and a nod.  “Okay, we’re on track.”

By now the General had come in and was watching over their shoulders.  Next to her family Eva drew another family, mother, father, son with one tic, daughter with two.  She pointed to all four, made the flapping lips gesture and pointed to her head.  “Okay, that family is all telepaths, like Sarah in there.”  Emily pointed back.  Eva nodded eagerly, pointed to Sarah and pointed to the daughter figure.  “That’s Sarah’s family.  Okay.”  Then as they watched Eva drew a crown over Sarah’s father’s head.

“What does that mean?”  The General asked.

Emily looked around, her eyes wide.  “I think it means that Crewman C over there is the equivalent of Prince Harry.”

“Oh great.”  No one was crabbier than a General who could feel things slipping out of his control.  “I wanted an interstellar diplomatic incident on my to-do list for the day.”

She pointed from her uncle the doctor to the King and back again.  Back and forth.  “Like he works for him.”  Emily pointed to a doctor and then to the General.  “I think she’s saying that her uncle was the royal physician.”

Captain Eva nodded but she wasn’t done.  She showed them the video of aerial bombardment on Morgan’s tablet, along with the picture of the Olan on hers.  “The Olan attacked, all right.”  Morgan nodded.  She pointed to Sarah and patted her tummy.  “She wasn’t out yet.”  She pointed to her own stick figure and patted her tummy, “You weren’t out yet.” She nodded with him, pointed to the son, the prince and made a rocking gesture, and emphasized small.   “He was a baby.  Okay.”  She indicated the two computers, then pointed to the king, the prince and the doctor and made a motion like she was giving a baby to someone.  The she used her hands to indicate a ship flying away and kind of crouched down like she was going to go under the table.  Then she pointed to the baby prince, indicated growing tall, put an invisible crown on her head, and flew back the way she had come “Okay, so when the Olan attacked the King gave the prince to the doctor and they flew away to hide.”

“Of course.”  Emily nodded.  “They sent the Crown Prince off to safety until he was old enough to assume the crown.  Who better to send a baby with than a doctor.”

“So what does that have to do with us?”  The General asked.

Emily almost gasped as the felt the hammer of knowing whack it into his head.  “Where better to hide than a place with natural defenses against their enemies?   Where they can blend into the population and no one will know?”  She tuned to Eva and pointed to the prince and the doctor.  “They’re here?!”  She gestured.  Eva nodded. 

“Oh hell.”  The General said.  “I thought we had this contained!”

“If we’re right they’ve been here for at least thirty years.”  Morgan reassured him.  “If they were bringing trouble it would be here by now.  They’re probably keeping their heads down.”

“Thank god.”

Eva pointed to the doctor, made the fix the break gesture, the flapping lips gesture, and pointed to her head.  “And the doctor treats telepaths.”  Emily pointed to the doctor, made the fix the break gesture and pointed to Sarah.  Eva nodded again, made the flying gesture, gestured to her crew, and pointed to the doctor.  “That’s why they came here.  She needs her uncle to heal the princess.”

“Which means he can also help Reid.”   Morgan nodded.  “So how do we find him?  He could be anywhere?”

“Yeah, but they were scanning for something they found in DC.”  Emily turned “Where?”  She asked, pointing to the globe.  In reply Eva touched the gizmo she wore on her wrist and started it beeping.  She turned in a circle and the beeping sped up as she faced DC.  She pointed to it, pointed to her uncle and lightly touched Morgan’s watch.  “She’s tracking some kind of signal coming off his watch.”  She gestured to Eva to come with them.   “We’re going to get them.”

“You can’t just go.”  The General said.  “The military needs permission to operate inside the United States.”

“No worries.”  Morgan said.  “We’re FBI.  Let’s go.”


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

Morgan wasted no time.  As much as he was enjoying the Captain’s company, as much as he wanted to show her around his world, he needed to get Reid help.  Once his little brother was awake and healthy then he could make with the flirting here. 

For now he hopped on I-270 and headed straight for the city, the peeping on her gizmo getting stronger the whole time.  As the beeps got closer she’d recalibrate to a finer setting, but they kept speeding up.  Awesome, they were going the right way. 

Once he got to the beltway he got on I-495 heading west.  The beeping almost immediately started tapering off.  He didn’t need Eva to shake her head to know that they were heading the wrong way.  “Okay, we’ll turn around.”  Heading east improved things, but only for a short time, then they started tapering off again.

Emily had the map out.  “Take the 185 into the city.”  She said.  “They turned around over the White House, maybe they live downtown.”

“Right,” he turned around again and onto the 185.  Sure enough the beeping sped up to the point where she had to recalibrate.  It kept beeping all the way into Chevy Chase.  “Where to now?”

“Try Connecticut.”

Connecticut Ave it was.  The beeping kept increasing until they passed the UDC campus, then it started slowing.  Okay.  He turned around and started heading back.  “Which way?”  He mimed at a stoplight.  Eva recalibrated and pointed him to the left.  Left on to Tilden, which became Reno, which was great until they got to Yuma where it slowed again.  He took two lefts to head back, as she recalibrated again, and then a U-turn to head back up and eventually they were heading west on Windom and she was dialed in so fine that it had to be on this block so they stopped.  “Okay, we walk from here.”  He said, getting out to let her out of the car.

But they didn’t take more than three steps before both women stopped.  “Son of a bitch,” Emily hissed.

“What?”

“I should have known.   Keys.” Emily pulled them out of his pocket and returned to the car.

What.  The.  Hell.  “Where are you going?” 

“I’ll be back!”  She called as she fired it up and sped away.

“Great.”  He turned back to Eva and then looked in the direction that had her transfixed. 

It was an older home, probably turn of the last century, with two stories and a wide, comfortable porch, painted pale grey with shutters that Reid would someday say were the color of the sky on a different world.  Out in front was the kind of flower garden that would make a man proud, and in it an older black man was putting in marigolds.  As he watched Eva slowly walked to the house and up the steps, catching the attention of the man who caught her movement and then settled back on his heels, transfixed.  She said something to him in that halting, musical language of theirs.  In reply he pulled off his work gloves, and pulled out a pocket watch made of some silver metal that shimmered in the sunlight in a way no metal should.  When he opened it Morgan saw symbols that he’d only ever seen on a ship from another world.

Bingo.

* * *

 

_Presented to the Royal Companion Dhai_

_On the occasion of his graduation from university_

_With all our admiration and pride_

_Bertram VI_

Walter Shepherd looked up at the miracle standing there.  “You are the picture of your mother.”  He said to her.

“And you look exactly like my Dad.”  Yeave replied, her eyes filling with tears.  Shep got to his feet just in time for his niece to throw herself into his arms, sobbing.   “I screwed up!”  She said.  “It’s all horrible!  Sarai is lost and I don’t know how to get her back and now they know about you and the King and….”

“Shhh.  Shhh.  There there.  We can fix it all.  Nothing is impossible if we’re alive and together.  Shhhh.”  He held her and rocked her slightly.  Whatever would have brought her here must have been quite a lot.  He had no doubt that his niece was a strong, fine woman just like her mother but everyone needed to let it all out sometimes.  He let her sob until the first rush was over.  “There there, now dry your eyes.”  He said, pulling out a handkerchief and giving it to her.  “And we’ll see what we can do.”  He turned to the young man standing there, and saw how he looked at his niece.  Well well, he thought, well.  “Welcome to the royal hideaway.”  He said.  “I am Dhai.”

* * *

 

Uh-oh.  Morgan shook his head to the old man.  “I’m sorry.”  He replied in English.  “I don’t know the language.”

“Good thing I’ve lived here long enough to pick up yours then.”  The man replied in kind.  His English had a faint accent but was otherwise perfect.  “On this planet I use the name Walter Shepherd, I was about to thank you for bringing my niece to me.”  He offered his hand.

Derek took it, gladly, before pulling out his badge.  “Derek Morgan, FBI.  Your name is familiar.”

Shep smiled.  “We have a saying; a coincidence is the universe having a laugh.  You coach JV football at the Y, don’t you?”

Morgan stopped.  He stopped and things started adding together in his head.  “Oh…boy…”

“I assume that was Emily driving off?”  Morgan nodded.  “Why don’t we go inside and have some ice tea and discuss the problem while we wait for her and Matt to return.”

Morgan felt like his world had been turned upside down and run through a blender, “Sounds good to me.” 


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

Another Friday, another round of picking up trash.  Or rather, not picking up trash.  “You know, if you don’t work these demerits off they’re not going to go away.”  Matt Star told his students.  “You won’t be able to get your diploma if you don’t clear them.”

One boy, whose attention was firmly on his phone, snickered, “Yeah, right.”

“No, I’m serious.  And don’t think we won’t inform your…”

“Mr. Star?”  One of the politer kids interrupted.

“What?”

“Isn’t that your girlfriend?”

Matthew turned, and spotted Emily.  “Yes, thank you.  I’ll be right back.”

* * *

 

He looks the same, she thought, he looks just the same.  He’s no different from when I left.  This is the man I was falling in love with.  No, am falling in love, except everything has changed, everything.  “Please tell me it’s not true.”  Emily said when Matt walked up to her.

“Tell you what’s not true?  What’s wrong?”

She pulled up a picture on Morgan’s tablet, the ship.  “Do you know what this says?”  Matthew’s eyes widened in shock.  “Please don’t lie.  Not now.”

Matt turned to the kids waiting.  “You’re off the hook.  Get out of here.”  He told them.  When the flock dispersed he turned back to her.  “I’m sorry.”  He sighed.  “It says it’s the Royal Scout ship _Sulaco_.” 

Oh damn it!  “Matt, how could you…”

“It’s not exactly something that comes up in polite conversation, Emily.  It doesn’t even make for good pillow talk.  You tell someone you were born on another planet and they think you’re insane.  I’ve lived here since I was six months old, I don’t even remember home, nothing past that was ever a lie.”

“Yeah, well, your home has remembered you.  Your people need you.  Hell, we need you.”  She turned to go.

He stopped her, gentle hands on her shoulders pulling her back, “And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you need me?  I thought we had something going here.”

Damn it.  “I did too.”  She admitted.  “But you have to go…”

“Emily…”

“…and don’t give me any of this run off and marry you crap!  I dedicated my life to serving the people of this!  Planet!”  It sounded crazy, but the moment it came out of her mouth it was true.  “I can’t change that now!  Even if there’s nothing here for me I won’t change that now!”

 “That’s not what I’m asking.” 

“Then what are you asking?”

Matt broke into a sparkling smile.  “How much adventure do you want to have?”

* * *

 

The house was, by all appearances, normal.  Living room, dining room, kitchen, pictures of him and Matt in the hall, nothing slithering around the corners.  Mr. Shepherd pulled out a perfectly normal pitcher of sweet tea and set out glasses and a tin of cookies if they liked.  In every way it seemed like an ordinary visit to an ordinary house.

But this was not an ordinary visit to an ordinary house.  Emily had loaned Eva her raincoat to wear to cover her uniform.  Now the younger woman slipped out of it and hung it neatly on a hook out of the way.  Mr. Shepherd looked at her uniform and a look of sadness and pain crossed his face.  For a moment they years he had worn lightly just a few moments before seemed to weigh him down until he was like to break.  “Sir?”  Morgan said politely.  “Are you all right?”

Mr. Shepherd nodded, but addressed a question to his niece.  Eva nodded and replied in what sounded like the affirmative, tipping her chin up with pride.  Mr. Shepherd smiled at that, but the sadness did not leave his eyes as he patted his niece on the shoulder.  “I assumed that my brother and my friend were both gone from this life,” he said, sitting slowly, “when they didn’t send for us in a reasonable amount of time.  But having it confirmed is still difficult.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”  Morgan said politely.  “You could tell from looking at her?”

“In my day the ladies of the court never served in the military.  They nurtured the next generation of Nobles, a very important task.  If Eldrak or my brother were still alive that would never have been allowed.  Unfortunately, while my niece is justifiably proud of her service it still hurts to realize just how much has been lost.”

“It sounds like your people haven’t stopped fighting.”  Morgan pointed out.  “You haven’t lost yet.”’

“But what is the point of winning the war when we lose our culture?”  Mr. Shepherd poured the tea for them.  “How were you able to communicate?”

“Charades, mostly.”

At least that brought a smile.  “Innovative.  Perhaps I can at least fill in some of the gaps.”

“All right, Eva here said you were the royal physician?”

“Not precisely.  I was a physician back then, yes, and I did specialize in working with Nobles but my proper title was Royal Companion.  Now don’t get the wrong idea about that.”  Mr. Shepherd raised a cautionary hand.  “Our culture is not yours; we were not mere servants or anything of that sort.  The closest thing you have here would be something akin to Chief of Staff in the White House, or Private Secretary to the Sovereign in the UK.  Being a Royal Companion was and is an honor, and I am proud to be of service.”

Chief of Staff.  Bingo.  “So you were right in the middle of everything?”

“I was, until the day the bombs fell.  No one in the League had any warning, or else they would have protected us.”

“The League?”

“The League of Aligned Planets, something akin to your United Nations.  The closest metaphor to our planet would be Great Britain, I suppose, being a Constitutional Monarchy.  We were perhaps the weakest member, the smallest population, a high percentage of intellectuals, not at all militant.  They attacked us without warning, one moment I was doing paperwork and the next the spheres were falling.”  He sighed in frustration.

“And you came here?”

“Eldrak ordered me to take his son to safety.  He and Annana were determined to stay and fight alongside their people, but Ehawk was only six months old, they needed to get him out of the way.  This planet is naturally protected and we knew the boy and I could blend in with the population and disappear until he was old enough to return.”

“Why didn’t you go back?”

“I popped a stabilizer on the way through what you called the Kuipler Belt, couldn’t control the landing.  I had to ditch into the Pacific, stranding us here.  I had some gold with us, I used it to arrange new identities and housing and set about making the best of it.  And I don’t think I did that bad of a job.”  He shook his head.  “We never wanted to cause any trouble.  I just needed a safe place to raise my best friend’s son.”

Morgan sighed.  From what he knew of Matt and his guardian they were good people, and had repaid their adopted home several times over. “There’s no need to apologize for that.”  He said.  “Right now we need you as a physician.”

“Oh?”

“Near as we can tell Dr. Reid and the princess are in trouble.”

“Princess?  What Princess?”  He looked to Eva and switched languages.

Morgan crossed his fingers.  Hang on little brother, he thought, help just might be on the way.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

Mr. Shepherd haruumphed when he’d heard it all.  “Well, it’s not unheard of.”  He said after Eva told her side of the story.  “Thankfully it’s rare, but not entirely unheard of.”

“What is it?”  Morgan asked.  “And can it be fixed?”

“Oh yes.  It’s a type of Post-Traumatic Stress reaction.  You see, Nobles are taught to value control throughout their lives.  Their abilities are tied closely to their emotional states; they must maintain control to protect those around them.”

“Okay, I keep hearing the term Nobles.  You’re familiar with our…this planet’s… social systems, are you talking something like the British monarchy?”

Mr. Shepherd settled back.  “Yes and no.  Approximately fifteen hundred years ago we realized that the sentient beings on our planet were beginning to evolve; some of our people were evolving in what you would call geniuses.  But more than that, they were evolving certain mental abilities.”

“Telepathy.”

“And telekinesis and astral projection and about a half dozen other abilities recorded.  We realized that it wasn’t random; these abilities tracked alongside this level of intelligence and followed bloodlines.  So the king at the time began adapting our Noble houses as a form of social engineering, to encourage that evolution.”

“Yeah, ‘cause kids from Noble houses only marry kids from other Noble houses, thereby sharpening up those bloodlines.”  Morgan nodded.  “And by setting them apart you could teach them that control you were talking about.”

“More than that, telepathy is the simplest and most common talent that expresses itself.  But being a telepath means constantly having to expend energy to keep mental walls up to block out the thoughts of others.  Much of what would look like pampering to common eyes was actually nurturing the talent and then isolating them so they could rest from time to time.  But it was worth it, the technologies they developed, the work they could do, they were an invaluable resource for our society.”

Morgan could just imagine the ways people like that could be a help to a society if they were raised to value service.  Heck, take a plain old genius like Reid for example, look at all the good work he had done over the years.  “And this is the way they react to stress?”

“To trap themselves inside their minds until they regain control of their emotions, yes.   Usually only for a day or so.”

“It’s been longer than that.”

Mr. Shepherd nodded.  “I suspect exhaustion plays a role in this.  There is a reason why we never allowed Noble ladies to serve in the military, the weight of all those minds around them, all those emotions, can be difficult to bear, and for some reason it wears women out faster than men.  Combine that with the stress reaction and you’ll get someone who goes into their mind and doesn’t want to leave because it’s quiet.  But even then they ought to come out in a few days.”

“But it’s been longer, and now Reid is trapped in there with her.”

“So Yeave said,” Mr. Shepherd considered this a moment.  “Has Dr. Reid had any psychological issues in his life that you know about?”

“Like what?”

“Hearing voices?  Hallucinations?  Feelings of paranoia?”

Wait a minute.  “No.”  Morgan answered cautiously.

“Anyone in his immediate family?  A sibling, cousin….”

“His mother has paranoid schizophrenia.”

Mr. Shepherd nodded.  “Ahhh.  And she was highly intelligent, a genius in her own right.”

“Yes.”

“But his father is normal.”

“Yes.  You think…”

“That this species is also poised to make the next great leap?  That you are where we were fifteen hundred years ago.”  Mr. Shepherd nodded.  “I doubt she actually has schizophrenia.  The symptoms between that and untrained telepathy are nearly identical.  You’d have to test the actual brain chemistry to be certain, of course, but, well, I would be surprised if she did.  And that means that even if he hasn’t manifested any talents in that regard he still has the ability to safely and closely interact with those who have them, considerably more so than my family.”

Son of a… “Okay, so how does that affect this?”

“One of the things you must be wary of when treating a Noble victim is to keep their spouse, if they have one, a minimum of a league away, about a mile.  Otherwise they risk getting sucked into the victims mind, setting up a resonance that triggers the same catatonia in the spouse.  In essence their minds become almost one and the same, they have the same vision, experience closely related sensations, and so on.”

“Um, they’re not married.”

Mr. Shepherd chuckled.  “I know.  But if they’re resonating that closely if they were on our planet they would be by now.  The problem is that the one thing that can drive a Noble having this reaction out of that state naturally is boredom and loneliness.  How is Dr. Reid’s memory?”

“Excellent.  Eiedetic.”  Oh hell.  “This means neither of them is going to be bored any time soon.”  Reid would be exploring her memories of a life in space; she could see the earth through his eyes.

“And they have each other for companionship.  In a case like this they won’t naturally come out of the catatonic state, they’ll stay in there until their bodies rot under them.”

“So how do you break it?”

“Get a stronger telepath to force them out of it.”  Mr. Shepherd looked toward the back of the house.  “Thankfully I think I just heard one park.”

* * *

 

Emily hurried around the car, the sooner to get in the house and get the others and get back to Reid.  But Matt stood there a long moment, just looking at the back gate.  “What is it?”

He looked nervous, of all things.  “You…said there were others…” 

She nodded.  “Yes, Mr. Shepherd’s niece and her crew.  Why?”

“Emily…I always rode my students hard because they have a chance to do amazing things on their planet, for their people, and I wanted to make up for not being able to be there for mine.  I never thought I’d have that chance.  But now…”

Emily just smiled.  “Don’t worry Your Majesty.”  She said, lightly touching his shoulder.  “You won’t let them down.  I have every faith in you.”

Matt looked at her and perhaps found the last bit of strength he needed.  He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly for a moment and then walked toward the house.  By the time he reached the back porch he was a king at last.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

Matt had changed; Morgan noticed the moment his friend came into the house.  He was standing taller, his shoulders broader, like he was taking up more space that was somehow rightfully his.  Purpose, he thought, Matt’s got a job to do now.  He was just spinning his wheels before, even though he was doing well.  “Hey.”

“Hey.”  Matt said in reply, but he turned to Eva first.

For a moment Eva was confused, but then her eyes grew wide.  As she slowly came to her feet Morgan saw what she saw, the resemblance to Crewman C, same nose, same set of jaw, same ink-dark hair that was just a shade off what it should be.  She came to attention, as they slipped back into the language that only they knew.  Matt clasped his hands behind his back as she said something very formal, and he responded in a manner serious but kind.  She smiled at that reply.  Morgan turned to Mr. Shepherd for a translation.  “A companion must be tested and passed by the reigning monarch before they are accepted into service.”  The older man said quietly.  “My niece was accepted by Matthew’s grandmother, who was acting as regent.  He agrees with her judgment, of course.”

In the meantime Matt and Eva were speaking.  Matt reached up and touched Eva on the temple, causing her to collapse back into her chair, stunned.  “Right, do we need anything before we go?”  He said.

“I should change.”  Mr. Shepherd.  “I was in the garden.  Just give me a few moments.”  He headed upstairs.  “Bring my books and kit from the trunk.”

Morgan moved quickly to Eva’s side.  She was blinking and rubbing at her temples.  “What did you do?”  Morgan asked.  Matt couldn’t have hurt her, not now.

“Data download.”  Matt replied as he headed toward the living room.

“It’s all right.”  Eva said in lightly accented English.  Morgan just gaped at her; surely he did not just hear what he had.  She smiled at the look on his face.  “He gave me English, said it would make things easier.”

Emily had followed Matt to the living room.  “Wow.”  She said.  Morgan and Eva followed.  “You are not going to believe this.”

Matt and Mr. Shepherd had a trunk acting as a coffee table in the living room, the top scattered with the usual remote controls and clutter.  Inside were various and sundry pieces of what had to be alien technology.  “This was what Shep managed to retrieve from the ship.”  Matt said, picking out what looked like two e-readers and a tool kit.  “It amazes me how things have been catching up lately.”

“I would say ancient.”  Eva remarked.  When Matt looked at her she shrugged.  “We’re using mostly Kenai and Eridian technology now.”

Matt digested this, but then shook his head.  “I read about them in an encyclopedia.”  He admitted.

“Come along.”  Mr. Shepherd said as he came down the stairs.  “We’ve wasted enough time.”

* * *

 

“What is this place?”  Sarai asked.

Another library had appeared next to hers.  They were linked together by a glass space, meant for music and dance.  Meant for love he realized, set apart as special and yet not hidden away, a space for love that was not ashamed.  “Um, I think it’s mine.”  He told her.  The central hall here was more compact, even though the library beyond it felt vast.  It was a sleek shape, a barrel ceiling striped in blond woods, with sunlight beaming through.  It took him a moment to place, but then a smile came to his face.  “It’s the Engineering library at CalTech.  The University I attended.  I always admired the design of the place; I spent a lot of time here.”

“A lot to explore,” she just grinned at him, “if you’re willing to share.”

“It’s not nearly as fascinating as yours.”  He replied, his own grin growing.  “I’ve never been to other planets.”

“We can take turns.”  At the end of the hall was a large niche, a place set aside for art exhibits, usually sculpture.  Sarai wandered down that way, drawn by the soft, warm colors.  “What is this?”

“Special people.”  There was a niche with children’s drawings and small toys and treasures from museums and holidays and about a million pictures.  “That’s my Godson, Henry.”

“What’s a Godson?”

“A kind of relative.  And this is my Mom.”  This was a niche with lots of books and pictures and a cuddly, dusty pillow that still smelled like her bedroom.  “I can’t wait for you to meet them.”

“What about this?”  She moved to another space.

There was a trunk there, one that was full of letters and phone calls, and a small cabinet full of the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and a picture of a woman with dark hair and soft eyes and a shy, sparking smile.  “Her name was Maeve.”  He said.  “Dr. Maeve Donovan.  She passed away some time ago.  She...I loved her.”   He admitted.  “She wanted to teach me how to dance, among other things, but we never had the chance.  You can look if you want…”  He reached for the trunk, not wanting to hide anything, not now.

But Sarai stayed his hand.  “No.  That should stay private, yours alone.”  She looked at the small shrine in his memory.  “She’ll always have a special place, won’t she?”  He just nodded.  Maeve wouldn’t want him to be alone, she would want him to have something like this, something wonderful and bright and new.  But she would always have that special place of the first for him.  “I just wish I could have said thank you.”

“I think she would know.”  He looked around.  “Can we start in yours?”

That got a laugh.  “Why?”

“Other planets.”  He was rocking on his heels like a kid, he had to know.

“All right.”  Hands linked they headed back through the glass space that now linked them.  But all of a sudden she stopped.  “Who’s that?”

The courtyard was larger now, ample for all of his family and friends and everyone she could ever love.  But sealed off from the world as they were it was empty now.  Or it should have been, but a figure was standing there, looking at them. 

 


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

“This place is far too busy.”  Mr. Shepherd muttered as they cleared security and entered the hospital.  He looked over at Yeave.  “I don’t suppose you brought any kind of medical kit?”

“I did; all the stocks from the ship.”  She replied.

“Good.”

“Should I introduce you as Doctor?”  Emily asked.

Mr. Shepherd considered and chuckled, “Why not?  I suppose they’ll recognize the degree now.”

They finally made it in to the main observation station.  Spencer and Sarah lay there unchanged, while Andy and Ken had pulled out some kind of card game and were occupying themselves on nominal guard duty.  One of the observers looked around.  “I expected aliens to be more exciting.”  He grumbled.

If there was one thing the daughter of a high-ranking diplomat knew it was formal protocol, people of lower rank were always presented to people of higher when it came to formalities.  Emily caught the General’s eye as he came over.  Oh, he was not going to like this.  “Your Majesty.”  She said to Matt.  “May I present General Robert Davis of the Unites States Air Force?  General, His Majesty King Ehawk the Fourth of the planet Quadris.”

It was the first time Matt had ever been formally introduced to anyone, he clearly wasn’t comfortable.  “General.”  He said, offering his hand.  “I don’t see any need to stand on ceremony.  Matt is fine.”

“Matt then,” the General looked a little relieved.

They had decided in the car that after Matt’s introduction they were going to stick with Anglicized names and titles, to make things easier.  “And this is Dr. Walther Shepherd, Chief of Staff and private physician to King Eldrak the Second.  Dr.  Shepherd, General Davis.”

“Doctor.”  It was easy to see that the General was happier with this; he could wrap his brain around ‘doctor’ and ‘chief of staff’ and maybe older male as well.  “I sure hope you can help us out here.”

“Well, we are going to try.  I’ll need to see the EEG’s you have on them.”  He looked over at Morgan and Emily.  “Go stay with your friend.  We’ll need you to keep him anchored when he first comes out of it so he doesn’t slip back.  You,” this was to Matt.  “Do not wander.  Yeave,” he turned to his niece.  “Where are your drug lockers?”

Matt chuckled as Shep headed off.  “I haven’t wandered since I was seven.”  He said to no one in particular.

Emily noticed how he was just staring at the small figure lying on the bed.  She could honestly only imagine.  “You okay?”  She asked.

He took a deep breath.  “I just found out that I have a sister.”  He said.  “And I found out that she’s recently been through hell and she’s found the guy of her dreams who just happens to be my chess partner.  You know, if I had met her before this I probably would have set them up.”  He shook his head.  “What if I make it worse for her somehow?”

Uh oh.  He needed a shot of confidence and he needed it now.  “You’ll do fine.”  Emily told him.  “Just remember, she’s going to be scared and vulnerable and going minute by minute at first.  She’s going to need someone to be her rock; a big brother can be just the thing for that.”  Matt nodded.  “All right.  You need anything…”

He smiled.  “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”

“Right.”  Emily moved off to join Morgan at Spencer’s bedside.  “How’s he doing?”

“More of the same,” Morgan sighed.  “Think this will work?”

“I hope so.”

Activity started ramping up.  Ken and Andy realized who and what was around, put away their cards, straightened their uniforms and assumed something like parade rest against the wall.  Mr. Shepherd came in and started poking in the med boxes, followed slowly by Matt.  “You’ll need to pull Dr. Reid out first.”  He said to Matt.  “Once he’s completely clear go back in for your sister.  Walk her out gently and shield her until we can get her sedated.”

“You need to sedate her.”  One of the doctors asked.

“This area is far too busy.  Too many minds, too much cacophony, it would be like pulling someone out of a coma in the middle of a rock concert.  She’d go right back in and probably pull him with her.  We’ll sedate her for now and then move her to someplace quieter and him at least a mile off, then we’ll pull her out completely.”  While he had been speaking Mr. Shepherd had been pulling the drugs he needed from the med boxes.  Syringe ready he nodded to Matt.  “All right.”

Matt covered his eyes and concentrated.

* * *

 

“Matt?”  Spencer asked, shocked.

They went around to the massive front gate of Sarai’s library.  Yes, it was indeed Spencer’s friend and chess partner, standing there with a concerned look on his face.  “It’s time to go.”  He said to Spencer.

“How did you get in here?”  Sarai demanded.  She pushed Spencer behind her and confronted this interloper.  “Who are you?  Why are you in my library?”

In reply Matt lightly stroked her temple, causing her to gasp with the realization.  “Sister,” he said gently.  “It’s going to be all right.  You’re safe now, and it will be quiet.  But you need to come out; you can’t stay in here forever.”

He was right, Spencer realized.  This was all so real, so warm and comfortable and good that he’d forgotten the purpose.  “He’s right.”  He said to Sarai.  “I’ll be there when you wake up, I promise.  We won’t let anything happen.  It will be safe.  I’m not going to leave you.”

Sarai looked up at her brother, angry, afraid, but now the structures in her mind were secure enough to allow her bravery to shine through.  “You’d better be right.”  She said, stepping aside, “Both of you.”

“We are.”  Matt replied.  “You have my word.”  He looked at Spencer.  “Ready?”

“I guess.”  Spencer took a deep breath.

“All right.”  He felt Matt take his arm and give a huge jerk…

* * *

 

One moment he was standing on the threshold of Sarai’s library, the next he was sitting bold upright in a hospital bed, gasping.  “Sa…Sarai!”

“Reid!  Reid!  Look at me!”  It was Emily, a very blurry Emily.  Gah, her voice was like sharp knives cutting along his nerves.   He wanted to retreat to warm and quiet and love, get away from all these sharp voices and bright lights.  But Emily wouldn’t stop talking.  “Don’t go back, stay with us now.”

“Reid!”  Morgan, that was Morgan, what was he doing here?  “Come on, stay with us man.  You got to stay here now.”

“Morgan?  What are you doing here?”  He was batting at the nurses, trying to sit up amid the tangle of wires.  Was all this really necessary?  “What did I miss?  How long have I been out?  Where are my glasses?”  In the background he dimly heard someone else say “Now.”

Emily found them and stuck them on his nose.  “Almost three days?”

“What?”

“Almost three days.”

“Three days?  No, it was just a few hours?”  Wait a minute.  “Where’s Sarai?”

“In the next room over.  No, Reid…”

“I said I’d be there when she woke up.”  Great, now hands were trying to pull him back into bed.

“You need to let her family take care of it.”

“But…”

“She’s all right, man.”  Morgan said, pushing him back down.  “You’re both going to be fine.”

* * *

 

Spencer was gone.  Spencer was gone but his library was still there, anchored to hers by the glass room of feelings they shared.  But Spencer was gone and Ehawk was gone and now she was alone.  Sarai pulled her shawl off the peg by the door and wrapped herself in memories of love and care.  She couldn’t go out there, it was too much, but it was so lonely in here.  She didn’t know what to do now.

Then she saw him, coming down the path and into her courtyard.  “It’s time, sister.”  Ehawk said to her.

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can.”  He held out his hand for her.

”It’s not safe.”

“It’s perfectly safe.  No Meks, no Olan, not in the entire system.”

“Spencer…”

“Will be waiting, he’s a great guy, he really is.”

“You mean…”

Ehawk chuckled.  “I don’t think you need my permission, but you can have it if you want.”

Oh.  Oh.  “Well…”  She took her brother’s hand and let him take her along the path.  “I just don’t know that I can.  There are so many voices…”

“Shhh.  I know.  I feel them too, all the time.”  He put his arm around her shoulder, so very strong, and pulled her in against him as they walked beneath the mik-mik trees.  “I’ll protect you until you’re strong again.”

“Promise?”

“Always.”  He tucked her in as the sky around them grew lighter.

* * *

 

Sarai awoke with a start.  Instantly they were there, the voices, the emotions, the people, coming at her like a tidal wave, threatening to take her under.  She tried to scream at them to stay out of her mind, to shut up, to go away, but all she could manage was one shaky breath…

Then strong arms were going around her, cradling her against a chest with a heart that beat in the same rhythm as her own.  And all of the voices and all of the feeling were pushed back and away and it was quiet and clear.  “Easy sister,” Matt murmured as she felt the heat of the drug enter her veins.  “Just rest now.  We’ll look after you.”

“Spencer?”  She managed to murmur as the blackness of sleep overcame her.

“We’ll look after him too.”


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 3
> 
> Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.  
> \- David Ogden Stiers

**Chapter 35**

Another day, another Air Force officer, “Dr. Blake?”

Blake brightened.  “Finally!  Let me get my bag.”  She practically skipped off.

Rossi looked at Hotch.  Why don’t the rest of us just take the week off?”  He said.  “It’s not like we’re going to get anything done.”

Hotch didn’t even bother to answer.

* * *

 

“Why am I so tired?”  Spencer muttered.

“Because you haven’t slept,” Blake replied.  Now that everyone was out of bio-quarantine the age restriction was lifted.  “You’re been lying there but your mind has been active.”  She was reading her way through the report of what had happened up to now.  “You need a good meal and about six REM cycles, you know that.  According to Morgan’s and Emily’s report Matt somehow taught Yeave English.  Did you pick up Quadrainian while you were in contact with Sarai?”  
  
Spencer considered this as he tried to finish his soup.  “I think I’m fluent now.”  He said.

“And you’re going to teach me, aren’t you?”

“Of course.”  Thank goodness it wasn’t something more aggressive than soup; he didn’t think he could handle that. “Thank you for being here.”

“Oh, of course, I’m sure Morgan and Emily were happy to not have to make that choice.”

“Oh?”

“Well Matt and Emily were already an item and you should see how Morgan was looking at Yeave.”

Spencer started chuckling.  “This may make for some very interesting family gatherings in the future.”

“I’ll say.”

* * *

 

On the other side of the base, deep underground, Sarai slowly swam up from her drug induced slumber.  This time there was no sudden tidal wave of minds crashing against hers.  Instead it felt like there was a bubble of quiet calm around her, space and time to waken slowly and catch her breath.  This was something she hadn’t experienced, not in many years.  It took her a moment to remember what had happened while she had been locked away.  Now she reached out, calling to the mind she remembered.  _“Ehawk?  Is it really you?”_

A link established, opening with a warm chuckle.  _“Yes, sister, it’s me.”_

Ah, so he was keeping that bubble around her.  _“We thought you were dead.  You never came back.”_

_“No, just stranded.  Our ship landed in a major ocean.”_

_“Oh.”_   She searched for another mind, one so familiar now.  “ _Where’s Spencer?”_

_“Sleeping out of range; he’s fine.  His people are with him.”_

_“He said he would be here.”_

_“He wanted to be.  But Dhai thought it best, in case the shock was too much for you still.”_

For a moment embarrassment took her.  _“I didn’t mean to do that you know, to lose control like that…”_

 _“Shhh.  It’s all right, we understand.  You have no reason to apologize and nothing to fear here.  I’m sorry that happened but we’re going to help you through this.”_   There was a pause then _.  “Are you ready to let someone else in?”_

Was she?  “ _I think so.”_   The next mind she felt was warm and strong, familiar from years of play and lessons and a life lived side-by-side.  But this one was full of concern and sadness.  “ _It’s not your fault you know.”_   She said.  _“I blame Nox for being an ass.  If we weren’t getting away from him we wouldn’t have been out there.”_

“I’m the Captain.”  Yeave insisted.  “I’m still responsible.”  Sarai felt the weight on the edge of the bed.  “Are you going to open your eyes and actually talk or what?” 

“I will if you turn out that light.”  The light over her bed finally shut off and Sarai opened her eyes.  She felt weak as a kitten from lolling about for so long, her head swimmy and her belly empty.  But the sharp pain that had frightened her so was gone.  “Am I all right?”  She asked the figure sitting on the bed.

Her best friend replied.  “What do you mean?”

“After what happened?”

Yeave’s smile sobered.  “Don’t know yet, we were too worried about your head.  Let’s make sure that’s cleared up first.  Hey!”  She called over her shoulder.  “Bookworm’s awake.”

Kemom and Leander poked their heads around the corner as she was sitting up.  “There she is!”  Kemom crowed.  “There’s miss layabout.  We’ve missed your lazy ass, making us do all the work.”  He sat at the foot of the bed and leaned back against the foot board.

“They have real food here!”  Leander informed her as he climbed over his friend to sit himself, “Real food, as much as you want!  Oh, you have got to try some of this stuff.”

Almost by reflex Sarai picked up what was floating on the top layer of thought on each of their minds and chuckled.  That was interesting.  “Nice to have my family back,” she said to Yeave.

“Speaking of,” Yeave jerked her thumb over her shoulder.

Sarai looked over the figure that came around the corner next.  Tall, broad in the chest and shoulder.  Same hair and eyes and chin that she saw when she looked in the mirror.  And a power that was nearly tangible.  “Hey.”  She said as her eyes started to prickle.  It was real.  He was real.

“Hey yourself.”  He came over and pulled her into the biggest, warmest hug she had ever felt.  “Welcome to Earth.”

“Thanks.”  She held him as tight as she could.  “And thank you for knocking me out of a job, Your Majesty.”  She didn’t know if that was sincere or not.

“Oh no, you still have a job.”  Matt gave the kind of grin that meant work ahead.  “I’ve got some plans I’m working on.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Oh, and my uncle,” Yeave was practically beaming as an older gentlemen came into the room.  Uncle Dhai, this is…”

“I know who it is.”  He stopped an appropriate distance away and made a polite bow.  “Your Grace.”

Sarai found herself nodding formally, in a way she hadn’t in so very many years.  “There should be no formality between a Noble and a Companion of their house.”  She repeated the proper phrase her Grandmother had drilled into her years before, then caught herself and grinned.  “Really, there shouldn’t be.  Thank you.”

The older man shook his head.   “And here I thought someone finally knew some proper manners.”

“Oh we do.  Grandma taught us.”  Sarai grinned at Yeave.

Her friend nodded in agreement.  “We practiced every six-day.  Sunday I think, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Sunday.”   Sarai looked back at Dr. Shepherd.  “We can show you on Sunday, if you like.”

Dr. Shepherd harrumphed as the younger ones chuckled.   “Going to be an informal court I take it?”  He asked Matt.

Sarai held her breath as her brother looked around.  Court, real, actual court, for the first time in years, all her friends and family and the people she loved..  “Absolutely,” her brother replied.

For that he got a cheer.


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

“It’s funny.”  Emily said as they waited outside Sarai’s room.  “It’s hard to see them as aliens now.”

Morgan chuckled, “You too huh.”

“Yeah, they’re just people.  They’re just having a hard time of it, that’s all.”

“Wish more of us could apply that to people from our world.”

“Yeah.”

* * *

 

“So, do you feel any different?”  Blake asked.

Spencer looked over at her.  They were driving back to the hospital to meet everyone.  After that he was supposed to get an MRI to see if anything had changed.  People were going to be studying scans of his brain for years to come; there was something amusing about that.  “Sore and stiff,” he admitted.

“That’s from being in bed.”

Spencer looked over at her, studying.  “You’re concerned about me, curious about what’s going on, excited to be meeting real aliens…”

Blake put up an eyebrow.  “Body language?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe,” he considered.  It was clearer now, her emotions were around her like a cloud, he felt like he had a sponge, he could lightly sample and identity them, “Maybe not.”

“If they’re right this experience might have brought out some latent gifts.  Can you tell what I’m thinking?”

He tried.  The sense of an emotional cloud got stronger, but no clear words or images.  “No.  At least if I can I don’t know how.  It’s more picking up on emotions.”

“Huh.  Well that alone would be a skill to hone if you could.  That and learning how to block it when desired.”

“Really?”

She nodded, “Interviews.”

Oh god, being able to read how a suspect or a victim was actually responding, that would be immensely valuable.  At the same time, turning it off around some of the worst Unsubs would be essential.  “I might have to work on that.”

“Well, we still have an open protocol, you have the time.  Take it now.”  She smiled.  “Like you said once, the work will always be there.”

He smiled in return.  “I think I will.”

They got to the hospital and found Morgan and Emily first.  “So at this point we’re thinking of just reading the team in.”  Blake said to them as Spencer moved past to find Sarai.  “All things considered.”

“What, you mean Reid?”  Morgan asked.

“And that you’re clearly planning on asking Yeave for a date.”

“What?”  Morgan looked shocked, even mildly offended.  “You do not know that!”

“Oh please.”  Emily groaned.  “You can see it when you look at her.  And before you even go there yes, telepaths are out of this world.”  She gave him her best ‘got you’ smile.

“That and if Spencer encounters any lingering effects we’ll have more eyes on the subject.”  Blake replied.

“You think there might be?”  Morgan asked.

“Too soon to tell.”

* * *

 

Spencer found Sarai up and moving, back in her boxy uniform, her hair up in a tight bun, actually making her bed.  “Um, hi,” he said.  She didn’t reply.  “I’m sorry I wasn’t here, everyone said it would be safer if I stayed away.”  No reply.  Had he imagined everything?   “Are you okay?”  Which was just a query as to her state of being at the moment.  Still no reply.  Oh hell, he screwed something up somehow.  “Look, about what happened….”

_“You talk too much.”_

Spencer blinked.  Her lips hadn’t moved but he’d heard that clear as a bell.  “People say that about me sometimes.”

_“Let me guess, especially when you’re nervous?”_

“Yes.”

_“What can I do to reassure you?”_

A millisecond of thought flashed across his mind as he pictured exactly what would make her feelings absolutely clear, if that was the way they ran.  “You don’t have to…”

But she’d picked up on the thought before he could stop it.  She put down her pillow, stepped into his arms, cupped his cheeks in her hands and kissed him, long and slow.  His third kiss ever, he realized and perhaps the most magical of all. _“I think I like your Earth customs.”_ She said.

He broke the kiss and smiled down into those eyes, the blue of the sky on another planet.  “You know you never realize that telepaths can talk and kiss at the same time.”

“You should try it.”  She said in clear, lightly accented English.

He just stood there holding her a long moment.  He hadn’t realized how good it would feel just to hold someone outside of a dream.  “I know you can feel it…”  He felt it from her.

“…but you need to say it…”  She continued.

“…I think I’m falling in love with you.”  He paused to consider.  “No, I’m pretty sure I’m falling in love with you.”  There.  Now he had not and would not make the same mistake he made with Maeve.  That was an immense relief.

“That’s good.”  She said with a nod.  “I’m quite sure I’m falling in love with you.”  She stretched up to kiss him again.

Only he stopped her.  “May I, please?”  He leaned down to kiss her, pulling her in warm and close.  First time he ever got the chance to initiate a kiss and yes, he liked it.  He liked it a lot.  Now to try this new thing.  He felt the connection between them, like a pipe tricking water into his mind, and sent a thought/trickle back. _“So now what?”_

 _“Ha, there you go.”_  She broke off with a smile against his lips. “I don’t know.  It’s your planet.  I was just going to finish the bed.”

“They strip them down, actually.  Some specific way…you’re better off just leaving it.”

“Oh.  All right then.”  She left the bed and picked up her uniform jacket.  “Any chance of this real food Leander keeps going on about?”

“If you can call it real food.  Whatever it is we can do better.”

“If it’s not out of a pouch it’s magical.”  She replied.  “Having to process all those chemicals dims your abilities.”

“Good to know.”

“And at some point I’ll have to teach you how to control telepathy.” 

“Yes, please.”  He took a deep breath, “I’m supposed to go have an MRI.  A scan of the activity of your brain.  I know Ken and Andy had them, I’m sure they would love to have one of you.  It’s not invasive, it doesn’t hurt.”

“Sure.”  She replied with a shrug.  “I’ll have to ask my brother first.”

Huh?  “Why?”

That question seemed to stop her, “Because he’s the King.”

“So you have to ask your brother’s permission to do stuff.”

“Some things, like answering requests of foreign governments.” Sarai picked up on where he was going and turned to him becoming more serious.  “Spencer, I know you’re about to tell me that I’m an autonomous person who has every right to her own body and her own life and who can make her own decisions.  And you are absolutely right about that.”

“Okay, then why ask him?”

“Because who we are, what we are, and the manners and customs we use with each other and with the others is all that’s left of our culture.  That and the Noble gametes are literally all we have left to start rebuilding.  And rebuilding our culture matters to me.”  He could hear the emotion in her voice and remembered the stacks and stacks of books on the subject, memories stored in her head.  “So even though I know he’ll tell me to do as I please I’m going to ask because that’s what we do.”

He nodded.  He couldn’t fight her, not when she was making her choices more clearly and openly than perhaps anyone else he knew.  “What can I do to help you rebuild your culture?”

She smiled and took his hand.  “ _You asked.”_  He heard within his mind.  _“That’s a start.”_


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

“I’m still trying to decide if we should read the team in.”  Blake admitted.

“That’s all right.”  Morgan replied.  “I’m trying to decide if they still need me here.”  He shook his head at her questioning look.  “No more need for charades.”

“Oh, we can come up with some reason to keep you on the linguistics team,” she reassured him.

“Yeah, but why?”

“Because of the way you’ve been looking at Yeave.  And the way she’s been looking at you.”  Blake chuckled.  “You know I am a Profiler in my day job.”

“Yeah, I don’t know.  She’s….she’s…”

“Special?”

“Yeah.  Besides, we don’t know if they’re going to stay.”  Morgan nodded.  “Might want to wait on what to tell the team on that too.”

“Good point.”

* * *

 

“So what’s your next move?”  Emily asked Matt.

Matt, Dr. Shepherd and Yeave had borrowed a meeting room so she could brief them both on what she knew of the war effort and the current state of their people.  “One way or another I have to go back.”  He said after the meeting.  “They need leadership, dedicated leadership, not the League Council; too many competing agendas there.”

He had proposed something to her on the way to their house from the school, but there were so many things that had to happen for it to work that she couldn’t even cross her fingers yet.  “So you’re going back?”

He took a deep breath.  “One way or another I’m going back.”  He said.  “I have to.  What form that takes…”  Deep breath.  “The Navy…your Navy is trying to salvage the _Kinjai_ , the ship we brought here.  If Shep’s memory is accurate and there hasn’t been much more damage we might be able to use the spare parts on the _Sulaco_ to get it flyable.  I need to know if it is before I go with the plan I want.”

“And if it’s not?”

“Then we all leave here together.  But the _Sulaco_ can only take two passengers with a full crew.”

And those two passengers would be Matt and his Companion.  “Isn’t that a lot of risk, the entire royal family in one ship?”

“That’s why it’s not my ideal plan.”  He smiled.  “Its home here, but I’d rather not strand anyone if I can help it.”

“And if she wants to be stranded?”

He chuckled.  “Cross that bridge if we have to.  They think the _Kinjai_ can be here late tomorrow.  Let’s hope.”

* * *

 

If there was one thing Spencer Reid had learned from Maeve Donovan it was this:  Never wait to tell someone how you feel about them.

One of the most burningly painful things he’d had to deal with after Maeve’s death was not telling her he loved her.  What was worse was having to tell her he hadn’t loved her, was having that be the last thing she heard from him on the subject after he had loved her for so long.  Yes she had understood, she knew him that well, but it wasn’t the same.  For the better part of a year he had dreamed of just saying I love you to her, if he only could.   He had learned from this to not wait, to tell people how you feel.  As he had worked through the grief he had made certain that all of his friends and teammates knew exactly how important they were to him, he’d written even longer letters to his mother to express his feelings and he had made certain that Henry had known that his godfather loved him best of all no matter what.  Now, after Sarai had literally opened her mind to him, bared her memoires and her dreams, her needs and desires so completely, so honestly, he had to admit that he’d dreamed of knowing a woman like her.  Yes, he admired and respected her.  Yes he was falling in love with her, and hard.  So of course he told her, better now than wait and have her go to her grave before he had the chance.

But…

While he had not been raised with religion he had been raised in the cult of courtly love, and one thing that taught is that consummation should be reserved for after commitment.  Not because it was inherently bad or bad before any commitment but because going straight to the base and the physical hindered the development of true intellectual and emotional intimacy.  It was one thing to reveal his feelings but sex was something that properly came much later in the relationship. 

From what he had gleaned while in Sarai’s music library, the place where she kept everything relating to romantic and sexual relationships, the Nobles of her world felt much the same, if for a different reason.  They believed that sexual intimacy opened up the mind down to the most base, animalistic layers, something that should only be shared with a partner one was already intimate with in all other ways.  Even though this incident jump started their relationship by several steps they hadn’t gone that far.  Add to that her being a recent victim of assault, with all the fears and uncertainties that kind of experience can cause.  Even though she was capable of interacting with the world again she still needed time to heal.

But…

He carried her bag and jacket for her as they left the medical facility to head for their new quarters.  For the first time in years Sarai stepped into the outdoors on a living planet.  She turned her face to the sun with a slight sound and a small smile, which was all anyone else would have noticed.  But through the link they shared he felt the warmth of the sunlight in her hair, the unexpected scent of new-mown grass, the way the soft breeze caressed her arms and her cheeks.  The wave of sheer sensual pleasure combined with the realization of her figure under that snug t-shirt and the memory of their closeness very nearly caused him to toss all of his resolve to wait into the nearest dumpster _.  “That’s flattering.”_   She said in his head.

This was going to be the problem with telepaths.  _“I didn’t mean it.”_ He mentally apologized. 

_“I know.  Still flattering.”_

All the sweet, flirtatious things he’d never be able to actually say could be shared though _.  “Can’t help it.  You’re beautiful.  Can you hear everything I think?”_

_“Thank you.  Your planet is beautiful.  I’m trying not to; when we have time later I’ll teach you how to block me out.”_

_“That would be helpful, thank you.”_   Spencer looked around.  They were standing on what he suspected was a patch of neatly mown crabgrass near a rather pathetic shade tree in the middle of a military base.  _“If you think this is beautiful I can’t wait to show you the rest of it.”_

She opened those big, blue eyes and came over to take his hand. _“Show me everything.”_ She said.

He knew then that before she left he probably would.


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

Spencer quickly realized that holding on to his resolve was probably going to take handcuffs.  Maybe epoxy glue.  Or they might need to actually discuss going there.  Or maybe he needed to start taking those regular bubble baths he hadn’t bothered with in over a year.  Because he seemed to be the only one at the table that was at all moved by watching Sarai eat breakfast.

He got it, first real food in years, it was understandable.  But if she was reacting that intensely to eggs, sausage, waffles and fruit he could only imagine what more…personal activities might feel like. She was giving off these waves of sensual pleasure with each bite and none of the other guys seemed to care.  Granted Matt and Dr. Shepherd were over in another discussion with another set of uniforms, but the two guys from her crew were there, and Morgan…no, Morgan noticed.  Actually they had all noticed.  They were trying not to laugh.  “You can go back for seconds, bookworm.”  Kemom finally told her.  “You don’t have to lick the plate.”

“I might.”  She said as she licked the syrup from her fork with those delicate flicks of her tongue.  “I’m sorry if I’ve been rude but it’s just so good.”

No, Morgan was laughing at _him_.

“Let me guess, seconds?”  Yeave asked.

“Please.”  Sarai replied.  The two women got up to go again, followed quickly by the two men.

Thankfully Kemom and Leander still did not know English.  “Problems?”  Morgan asked when the women were out of earshot.

“Shut up.”  Of course they weren’t picking up on what she was feeling; they just noticed some less than ideal table manners.  He was the only one getting the full impact.  Great.

Morgan chuckled a moment, but then he sobered.  “Do we know if they’re staying yet or not?”

Damn it.  “No.”  Spencer admitted.  “I’m trying not to think about that.”  He did not want to picture losing someone else, anyone else, forever ever again.

Once Blake had been cleared to come in she had become the senior member of the Linguistics team.  Now one of the interminable meetings had broken up she’d come over to join them.  “So it looks like we are officially moving to Stage Three as of today.”  She said as she sat down.

“Stage Three?”  Morgan asked.

“Protocol 3372 was planned to include three to four stages.”  Spencer replied.  “Stage One was when alien visitors were first observed entering the solar system.  Stage Two began with their entering Earth orbit and took us through first contact.  Stage Three is when we’re past first contact and we have enough information to determine what they want and our response.  I’m assuming Level Five?”  Blake nodded.  “Stage Three was broken into different levels of response depending on the threat.  Level Five is the least dangerous; the criteria for going that route included being able to communicate clearly and determining that they posed no threat to the planet as a whole.  It set up for three possible scenarios, they leave, we meet some need or demand of theirs and they leave, or we initiate ongoing diplomatic relations.”

“Any of those scenarios would be ideal on our side, but the Quadrainian delegation hasn’t decided which scenario they’re going with.”  Blake informed them.  “The Navy has located the ship Matt and Dr. Shepherd arrived in and are attempting to salvage it now.  Apparently Matt is waiting to make any decisions until they can assess the condition of that ship.  Spencer, you have a last round of tests today, yes?”  It was Spencer’s turn to nod.  “All right.  What moving to Stage Three Level Five means is that we’re back on call with the BAU.  This takes precedence over the everyday work until they figure out if they’re staying or going but if a crisis comes up we’ll need to go out with the team.”

“Sounds good to me,” Morgan replied.

“What about Emily?”  Spencer wondered.

Blake smiled.  “Given her current employer I think she’s in it for the long haul.  For now I’m going to go call Hotch and inform him that we’re back on call tomorrow.  Any messages?”

“Yes and no.”  Morgan replied.  “Let’s make that a video call.  I’m sure Garcia will want to see pretty boy here up and getting around.”

“Good point.”

* * *

 

Garcia was thrilled.  “OMG, how is Reid?”  She asked as soon as she opened the line.

“I’m fine Garcia.”  He said, making sure she could see him.  “I’m right here.”

“Oh good!  Yes, excellent!  OK, hang on a tick while I transfer this to the conference room.”  A few moments later they were looking at the old familiar round table with the rest of their friends.  “See, he’s okay.”

“You’re sure about that?”  Hotch asked.

“I have a last round of tests today, but I’m 95% certain I’ll be cleared.”  Spencer replied.  There was a slim possibility they’d pick up something like raging brain cancer on his MRI, but that was rather doubtful at this point.

“What happened?”  JJ asked.

“We still can’t talk about it.”  Blake said.  “And the Protocol is still not closed so we’re not entirely off the hook, but it looks like they will be dropping to the lowest threat level today so we should be available on-call as of midnight tonight.”

“Lowest threat level is always a good thing.”  Rossi remarked.

“How much longer will you be out of the office?”  Hotch asked.

“Two weeks at most.”

Two weeks, Spencer thought.  Three hundred and thirty six hours.  It’s not like she would be dying, just going very far away.  I could still write, even though I wouldn’t hear back, couldn’t I?

 _“I’d write too.”_   Sarai replied.

* * *

 

As they had expected after consulting with Dr. Shepherd Matt gave permission for Sarai to have a functional MRI that afternoon.  Spencer went first so she could watch the process.  “It observes the activity of the brain in real time.”  He told her.

“Fascinating.”

“You probably have vastly better ways of doing this.”

“Not a clue, I’ve never had one done before.  I was supposed to be lying low.”

As he had also suspected his scan was notably different from the one he’d had done before he went in to help her.  “Okay, you know that part of the brain that you had more activity in.”  The tech said over the intercom.  “That we’d never seen on any other scan.”

“Yeah.” 

“Well you have considerably more activity there now.”

“Are you still scanning?”

“Yeah, why?”

He stopped talking with his voicebox,   _“Sarai?”_

_“Yes?”_

_“I just want to talk to you for a moment while the scanner…”_

“WHOA!!!”  Said the tech.

“I think we just localized for telepathy.”  Spencer told them.

“Whoa, right.  Whoa.  Okay.”  The techs said as they scrambled to finish the scan.

Then it was Sarai’s turn.  “If it starts to hurt or feels strange at all let us know and we’ll pull you out.”  Spencer said.

“Right,” Sarai smiled at him and he felt her temptation to ask for a kiss.  But they both refrained and a few moments later the scan began.

“Oh my god.”  The techs said.  “Wow…”

Spencer waited for the second pass before he sent her the thought.  “ _They’re going to be studying these scans for decades.”_

_“Really?  Almost a form of immortality there.”_

_“Isn’t it?”_

By now the tech was whimpering.

 _“Set for a third pass?”_   Sarai asked.

_“All right.  Why?”_

_“You’ll see.”_

On the third pass three large props used to hold patients in place for scans lifted into the air and floated around in a circle.  The techs were almost too gobsmacked to look at the scans.  Spencer was thrilled.  _“Can you do anything else?”_

_“Yes, but I’m getting sore from lying here.”_

Spencer chuckled.  “You’ll have to wait for another round for more.  Let’s get her out of there.”  He told the techs.

“Awww.”  But they moved to comply.

Once she was out he walked with her to the changing room, fully expecting her to just change from the gown she’s worn for the test to her uniform.  But before she did she tugged him into the private space for the kiss she’d wanted earlier.  He knew, but he said it anyway.  “Want to get as many of those as you can?”  Before you have to…

“Yeah,” she admitted.

“Me too.”


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

 

Other than having expanded his mental abilities Spencer was fine, and no one was catching anything, so there was no reason to keep everyone on the military base any longer.  Level Five meant that the visitors, as they were now to be called, were to be treated as honored guests, with all the respect that would be due heads of state from other countries, but Stage Three meant that the Protocol was still underway and security needed to be maintained.

This was only problematic in light of what had been Matt’s plans for the remainder of their stay.  He was going to take everyone back to the house on Windom, order pizza, make up beds wherever they could manage, and then see what happened with the  _Kinjai_.  But their little house was not deemed securable by the military, causing Dr. Shepherd to huff about how they had lovely neighbors and it was a very safe part of the city, but to no avail.  And it was not deemed appropriate for a head of state by the State Department, which was brought in once Level Five was decided upon. 

That was how they ended up at the Willard hotel downtown.  “Well this is awkward.”  Matt murmured to Emily.  “Think they kept our room?”

“Actually, they did.”  It seemed like a lifetime ago, but in reality it had only been a few days since she and Matt had spent the better part of a week-end here.  “I think you guys are on the penthouse floor now.”

He shrugged.  “I could sneak down.”  He said.  “Or you could just come up and stay.”

He was not serious.  She looked over at him.  He was serious.  “No mind tricks?”

“None, I swear.”  He smiled.  “You know that offer you rejected…”

“No.”  She would not go there; it would be far too complicated.  “Plan A or not at all.  Which would make this our first interstellar scandal, if you haven’t noticed”

He chuckled.  “True.”

Granted there were worse ways to go down in history.  And after watching him through this, how he looked after his family, how he stepped up to the role he was born to, how he was handling the responsibility and power with humility and grace…damn it.  “Your room.”  But wait a minute here.  “Were you reading my mind then?”

He gave her a sheepish shrug.  “A little bit.  Not that I went digging for actual thought, harder, lower, oh god don’t stop, none of that is exactly buried all that deep.”

She didn’t know whether to laugh or shoot him.  Settled for a smile.  “I should warn Reid.”

Matt winced.  “You know, he’s a great guy and I’m happy for them both but she  _is_  my sister.  I’m trying not to think about that.”

That did leave Emily laughing.

* * *

 

The George Washington suite was simply too lavish.  Emily was familiar with such; it was no more than would be expected of an embassy, but the rest of them simply stared around in wonder.  Even Spencer and Morgan seemed a little impressed with it.  Only Dr. Shepherd seemed merely pleased with the arrangements.  “Quite nice,” he said.

“It’s kind of a bit much, isn’t it?”  Matt asked him.

“The palace was more.”  Dr. Shepherd replied.  “It is just a space, but it shows the level of respect being offered here.”  He eyed the dining table, one that didn’t quite go with the space but that had room for ten.  “Think of it this way, everyone gets a bed.”

“Yes, but we might be too scared to sit on the furniture.”  His niece replied.

“Nonsense,” the older man sat on one of the sofas and gestured for his niece to join him.  “You’re the Companion to the Princess Royal; you should be quite comfortable with this sort of thing.  Granted it’s hard for a lady to to sit properly in pants.”  He sighed.

Yeave rolled her eyes but sat obediently, but on the very edge, ready to spring off at a moment’s notice.  “I think I was more comfortable greasing up the  _Sulaco_.”  She admitted.

“In that case this is good practice.”  He looked over at Matt.  “We should sort sleeping arrangements, I’d like to rest a bit before supper.”

The military had stationed two guards at all of the entrances to the floor, as well as at the entrance to the suite.  Inside the suite were four bedrooms.  Matt took one, putting Emily’s luggage in there without comment.  Dr. Shepherd quite deliberately accepted the smallest.  That left one with a king size and one with two beds.  “We’ll take that one.”  Sarai said, indicating the two bed one.  “The guys can have the other.”

Dr. Shepherd nodded approvingly, “Quite appropriate.”

“A Companion usually acts as chaperone?”  Emily asked.

“It is traditional.”  He replied.

 _“Actually I was thinking of Kemom and Leander.”_   Sarai thought to Spencer.   _“Those two have wanted some…private time for days.”_

Spencer didn’t say anything.

He and Morgan had rooms down the hall.  They were sticking close, ostensibly to act as translators in case of emergency at the request of the royal party.  Granted they all knew it was so Spencer and Sarai could spend as much time together as possible before she’d have to go, if she did go.  They could have shared a room, he thought, they wouldn’t have done anything.  At least he didn’t think they would have done anything.  But about the time he was unpacking his go-bag in the nice but normal hotel room he felt a deep frisson of anticipation and pleasure from Sarai.   _“What?”_

 _“Okay, we need to take care of this right now.”_   She replied.   _“Come on down.”_

He finished unpacking and went to join the others in the suite.  She was sitting on a bench at one of the windows, having only removed her uniform jacket.  “You need to learn how to block me.”  She said.  “I broadcast too hard for it to just happen.  It will be faster if you let me help.”

“Okay, what do I do?”  He asked, dropping down on the bench beside her.

She took his hands to ensure the connection.  “All right, close your eyes and feel for that link between us.”  He closed his eyes and kind of felt around inside his own mind until he felt it; it was like a roaring open pipe between them.  “Now picture a common communication device, one you’re quite familiar with.  Picture it in detail.”  He pictured his phone, something he was intimately familiar with at this point.  “Right, now hold that image.”  He felt her in there then, kind of moving the pipe around until… “There.”  In his mind the blank screen of the phone came on to shimmering static as the pipe connected through the phone.  “Got it so far?”

“I think so.”  It made sense, in a way.  It would allow him to control the connection at his end, using his imagination to manipulate what he could do.

“Okay, now manipulate it like you would to lock the device, putting a picture on the screen as you do so; some image that has nothing to do with me or my family or space or anything like that.  As you pull it up picture it blocking the connection.”  Spencer mentally pressed the lock button and brought up the FBI seal on the screen, locking it as a cover over the pipe.  Sarai was quiet a moment, then, “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“I was talking to you.”

“Nope.”

“Try sending me something, something entirely new.”

Spencer caught sight of Emily in the hall and thought about Benjamin Cyrus, the time he and Emily were held hostage together.  “Did you see that?”

“No, not at all.  Okay, now mentally think of a way to store connections to different people.”  He put up the contact list on the phone.  “Pick an image for me, something unique, and not my picture, faces change over time.”  An image for her?  An image for her?  He pictured her hands holding a cup, long, white fingers wrapped around a delicate blue china cup that had belonged to her Grandmother, a cup full of hot chocolate just waiting to be sipped.  He filed that as a contact.  “Ready?  Then picture that coming up on to the screen and the connection opening.”  He worked through it and felt the pipe open again.   _“Hear me now?”_   She asked.

_“Yes.”_

They practiced it back and forth until the block was comfortable and secure.  It was an image that would kind of always linger in one corner of his consciousness, available if and when needed to trigger the link.  By now Morgan had wandered back down.  “So what is being a telepath like, anyway?”

At least now he had an answer.  “It’s like having a cell phone permanently attached to your head.”   It was there if he needed it, he could sense it in there.  Otherwise there was just this gentle feeling of her being near and in general good spirits, nothing at all specific.  It was actually quite a comfort.

Morgan looked over at Sarai.  “Lady, you are a dream come true.  I don’t want to tell you the number of times we’ve lost track of him over the years.”

“Hey!”  Oh he was not that bad. 

Morgan gave him one of those looks, “Any chance of getting my number in there?”

“Maybe,” Sarai shrugged.  “Grandma always said it was about discipline, practicing and taking care of yourself.  If you did, you’d keep getting stronger.  Not that I have since I joined the armada.”  Sigh.

“Maybe now you can.”  Spencer suggested.

“I’m going to try; starting with that water bath in there.  As soon as Yeave is done with her turn I’m going to go have a very long shower.”  She was almost purring with anticipation.

“That’s why you wanted to do this first?”  She had a point, just the thought of feeling her experience that pleasure was nearly enough to cause issues.

Her smile said that she had thought of that.  “Would you rather we’d waited?”  He wasn’t certain how to answer that, so he didn’t, causing both her and Morgan to laugh, “Maybe next time.”

Oh please let there be a next time, he thought.  Please let there be a next time.

 


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

“I heard you know.”  A voice said not too long later.  “You really want him in your head?”

Morgan turned to look for the source of that voice.  Civilian clothes suited Yeave just fine, or maybe it was that she was finally relaxed, “Yea, sometimes.”  She caught him looking, looked in return.  Okay.  “Welcome to Earth, by the way.”

“Thank you.”  She prowled around a little, checking out the space, letting herself be looked at.  “Were you as shocked as you appeared to be?”

“About what?”

“My being someone’s Companion?”

Had he been?  “That has different implications here.”

“Ahhh, that makes sense.”

“So what are you going to do now?”  He sat on one of the couches, leaving room for her if she wanted it.

She accepted the invitation, drawing her legs up under her briefly before letting them back down.  “What do you mean?”

“If you guys stay.  I mean, you don’t need to be a Companion anymore.”

“Yeah, I do.”  She seemed kind of surprised by that.  “Just because where we are changes, that doesn’t mean that she has.  Someone’s got to look out for her. We grew up like sisters; I’m not going to trust anyone else to do it.  Who looks after him?”

“Him?”

“Dr. Reid.”  She must have seen the confusion on his face.  “What?”

“Reid looks after himself.”

For a moment she grinned like he was teasing her.  “Serious?  There’s no one there to keep him from getting all up in his head and forgetting about the practical stuff?”

Huh?  “What do you mean?”

“No one makes sure he doesn’t get too wrapped up in a project and forgets to eat?  No one tells him to put the books down and sleep?  No one helps him out when the emotions he gets from others are too much and he gets into one of those funks that lasts for days?   No one keeps an eye on him when he picks up on a funny feeling and wanders off to see what’s going on without thinking of what’s safe?  Are you telling me he never does anything like that?”  She saw his face and just grinned at him.  “Or are you telling me I’m going to be chasing after two of them now.”

Morgan was speechless a moment, but then he had to laugh.  “I guess it’s a group effort.”  He always chalked that up to Reid being…well, Reid, the absent-minded genius.  “It’s not like he’s like that all the time, he can look after himself.  And he’s a damned good agent, I’m glad to have him at my back.”

“All right.”  She looked out toward the glorious view of the city, slowly settling to night. “This planet does seem like it’s safe, maybe I’ll just have a part-time job here.  That’s what it was for my uncle, part time most of the time.  I mean he and Sarai’s father went to University together, but the King studied law.  They just shared quarters so my uncle could keep an eye on things, or so I was told.”

“See, I can get with that.”  ‘Companion’ was kind of a strange concept, still.  Having an absent-minded genius for a roommate and looking out for them, that he could understand.  “So if it’s part time, what are you going to do?”

She smiled at the thought.  “I don’t know.  What is there to do here?”

“Are you asking for someone to show you around?”

“Maybe I am.”

* * *

 

Leander sighed.  The sheer volumes of hot water available still astounded him.  Just being able to loll about under the hot spray was an immense pleasure.  Not as immense as what had just occurred, but a very close second.  “So the King said we didn’t have to turn the implants back on?”

Kemom rolled his head to look at his partner, “Yeah.”

“I think I may have to like this planet.”

* * *

 

At the quiet ‘come in’ Spencer opened the door.  “Dr. Shepherd?”  He asked politely.  “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“Not at all, Dr. Reid.  Come in.”  Matt’s guardian was sitting at the desk in his room, writing.  “I have kept a log since we first left home, I wanted Matthew’s parents to know about their son’s life while he was away.  Even though I know it will probably never be read now, I still find that it helps clear my thoughts.”  He closed the book and indicated the other chair in the room.  “How can I help you?”

Spencer wasn’t certain how to begin.  “Um…I was wondering…the ability to be telepathic…it’s genetic, isn’t it?”  Dr. Shepherd nodded.  “My mother…”

“…is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.”  Spencer blinked.  “Derek told me.  You’re here to ask if there’s any way to help her.”

Huh.  “Sure you’re not telepathic?”

Dr. Shepherd laughed at that.  “No, just experienced.  Unfortunately the answer might be yes and no.  Derek didn’t give me any details, but given that you are here and she is not I’m assuming residential care?”  Spencer nodded.  “And you want to know if there’s a way to help her resume living independently?”  Spencer nodded again.  Dr. Shepherd sighed, “In all honesty, probably not.  You’ve experienced what it’s like now, to have that constant, open connection with one person who herself was in control of her emotions.  Now imagine that with everyone around you, coming and going in waves, unpredictably, with random strangers, growing more and more frequent all the time and being unable to shut it off.  Eventually it simply wears out the system.”

“Sarai and Matt can shut it off.”

“Sarai and Matt started practicing when they were very young, six or seven, so when puberty came and it started to grow they knew what needed to be done.  In your mother’s case that did not happen.  Now there are ways that another telepath can put a temporary block in place to help her, but a strong enough mind would be able to knock that down.   Unfortunately, as I’m sure you know, the strongest minds and emotions are the negative ones.”  This was true.  All of a sudden a thought came to Spencer and some sound of distress escaped him before he could stop it.  “What?”  Dr. Shepherd asked.

“There was a man who came around my neighborhood when I was four, Gary Michaels.  He was a predator; he assaulted and killed my best friend at the time, Reilly Jenkins.  Mother said she knew I was his next target, she said it was her maternal instinct but it wasn’t, was it?  She was picking up on his emotions if not his actual thoughts.”

“More than likely,” Dr. Shepherd confirmed.  “It’s not my place to ask what happened…”

“She told Reilly’s father about her suspicions.  He killed Gary Michaels before he could hurt anyone else.  Mom was there…”  It was Dr. Shepherd‘s turn to make a sound of distress.  Oh god, he could just imagine what that had been like for her, with a wide open pipe picking up every emotion, from Gary Michaels perverse desires to his father’s fear when she came home bloody.  “Her illness became worse after that, but it was probably a breakdown with all that emotion…”

“And the mind just becomes more fragile with stress over time.”  Dr. Shepherd sighed.  “Even if we were back on Quadris and had all the resources we could desire I would still recommend a controlled environment for her.  At this point she simply cannot risk more stress.”

“So there’s nothing that can be done?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.  Her quality of life could be improved, possibly considerably.  I assume she’s on some fairly potent medication, probably with some fairly serious side effects?  There is a good chance that those could be reduced, possibly some eliminated.  If either Matthew or Sarai remains here I’ll advise them on what to do to help her.”

Without the fogging effect of the medications his Mom could return to her studies, correspond with her colleagues, and maybe even publish again.  It was not everything he could hope for, perhaps, but it was more than he had ever dreamed.   “Thank you.”

Dr. Shepherd laughed.  “Wait to thank me after I start nagging you about taking care of yourself.  Especially given the work that you do, you need to get stronger.”

“I’ll take any advice than you give me.”

Dr. Shepherd laughed.  “Be careful what you wish for.”


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

Emily turned as Matthew walked into their room and flopped onto the bed.  If there was one truism she’d learned through the various shades of her career it was that the more wealthy and powerful the men the more they wanted one of two things in the bedroom.  One kind of man went kinky, wanting to submit and lay their cares and responsibilities aside in a controlled, erotic manner.  The other kind kept their stress and sex separate and wanted someone they could talk to openly.  Emily already knew that Matt was the second kind, good for her because she so was not into the first.  So when he rolled to his back with a groan she sat next to him and ran a gentle hand over his chest.   “That bad?”

He groaned.  “Regardless of what happens with the _Kinjai_ I have to negotiate ongoing relations with the US government and through them the rest of the planet.   Then I have to go home and jump into a war against an enemy that might still have us outgunned, I have to negotiate with allies who want our most precious resources to exploit, I have to replace an Admiral who has introduced our fleet to the concept of sexual harassment, and I have to somehow reunite a people scattered among three carrier groups and refugee camps on five planets.  In the midst of all that I have to help my sister heal.”

“She’s minimizing it, isn’t she?”  Minimization was a common reaction in assault victims, trying to pretend that everything was fine and nothing had happened.

“Yeah.  For Spencer’s benefit as much as her own.  They’ve been talking off and on all day…”

She hadn’t seen them talking.  “How…”  Oh.  Wait.  “Telepathy.”

Matt smiled.  “Yeah.  She’s pretty shaken up about it.  General Davis’s staff is reading a gynecologist in to the Protocol, then Shep is going to work with her to get Sarai a thorough checkup, just in case.”

“Does Sarai know?”

“She asked for it.  She’s terrified that they actually hurt her.  Granted the way she reacted they probably didn’t, but she needs the reassurance.”

“Poor kid.”  Emily rubbed his chest again.  “Yep, you’ve got a lot to carry.”

Matt chuckled.  “I keep going over it all in my head and then adding  and I have finals to administer next week’.”  Emily couldn’t help it, she started laughing.  Thankfully Matt was grinning.  “I mean, it’s hardly fair to the kids, changing teachers this late in the game.  I have a responsibility there you know.”

“I doubt St. Alban’s skimps on the substitutes.”  Emily told him.  “They’ll be fine.”  She stretched out beside him.  “So what’s your first priority?  What’s the most important thing?”

“My sister,” he said automatically.  “Getting her the help she needs.  Which we might not be able to do out there, so do I leave her here or…”

“You can’t make that decision yet.  Get her the medical help she needs, if any, and we’ll see if we can read in a counselor, someone she can talk to daily for now, if need be.”

“And I need to keep an eye on Shep…”

“He seems all right.”

“Yeah, but he’s 72.  Yeah.”  He said as her eyes went wide.  “He’s in perfect health but I don’t want him to push too much.”

“We’ll keep that in mind.”

“Yeave and the rest of the crew seem to be doing all right.  She’s looking after the guys, still.”

“Well they are her crew.  She probably feels responsible for them.  I kinda suspect they won’t be joining us for dinner though.”  The two men seemed to have been in a hurry to get to someplace private, involving a bed for two.

“You noticed too, huh?  That’s another problem to tackle.  Not them, but…”  Matt sighed, “More League stuff.  I’m not worried about them; this is supposed to be a family supper, no great offence if they don’t show.  Anyway, I can delegate helping Yeave out to Derek.”

“Emily chuckled.  “You noticed too, huh?  I have never seen him focus on a woman like that before.”

“Yeah, that’s going to be fun to watch.”  He rolled over and gently stroked her hair.  “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine.  No, really,” she said to the look on his face.  “The future is in limbo right now but it’ll settle.  For right now I’m good.  I’m working with friends and I’m not pushing papers around.  And of course the whole history of the world thing.”

They shared a chuckle at that.  “Are you still good with this?”  He asked

“With what?  Our future public plans or being the King’s mistress?  Actually I’m good with both.”  With that she leaned in to kiss him.

Things went on from there.

* * *

 

Blake had gone home to freshen up a bit before supper.  When she came around she couldn’t help but notice… “I thought that was the main entrance to the suite.”  She said, indicating the door to the parlor area.”

“It was.”  Dr. Shepherd told her.  He’d come out to oversee the preparations, or so he said.  Now he was settled at a corner of the large dining table and invited her to take a seat, offered tea with a gesture.  “In Quadranian homes the kitchen and dining areas are the central focus of the home, the parlor is considered a secondary area for more intimate gatherings.  They were usually in a circular, combined space.  In smaller homes private spaces would open directly off the rounded kitchen at the front of the home.  Even the palace was designed this way.  Although it had a main throne room for all other than the most formal gatherings involving foreign diplomats the King always held court at his table.”  He chuckled at the memory.  “The Adaptation team worked with the hotel to move the furniture around for us.”

Blake chuckled.  “You know, I’m going to try to learn every custom while you’re here.”

“And I would be delighted to share.”

Blake hesitated a moment.  “I hope it’s not too forward, but…what happened to your family?  I’ve been wondering…”

Dr. Shepherd chuckled.  “This is my family.  If you’re referring to immediate family I remain a bachelor.”

“Ah.”  She smiled.  “Never found anyone.”

“Oh, I did.  Minou.”  His eyes grew hazy with the memory.  “She was an amazing woman; beautiful, of course, brilliant, gentle.  She was the chief Social Secretary to the Court, Companion to Queen Ananna.  That was when we met, when Ehawk and Ananna started courting.”

“Didn’t work out?”

“No.  I was too much a man of science for her at the time, and I was completing what you would call an internship at our main hospital.  While I was deep in my work she met someone else, someone close to me who had studied history, much closer to her own interests.   Anyone could see that they were meant for each other, the stars brought them together as we would say, so I let her go.  I always thought that eventually I would find someone, but, the fates had other plans.”  He sighed.  “I tried to take them both with me when I left but she wouldn’t leave her post.   We had mere moments to get to the launch area; I didn’t have time to argue her out of it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“As am I.  But I have to look on the bright side, if things hadn’t happened as they had then their daughter would not be the woman she is now.”

Blake followed her eyes to where Yeave was laughing at some flirtatious remark of Morgan’s.  “I’m glad they left some part of them behind.”

“As am I.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've had to switch to updating every other day, the real world does intrude at times. Hopefully I'll be publishing every day again sometime this week-end.


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

“What do you mean they’re not joining us for dinner?”

“They’re occupied.”

“Occupied?  Nonsense!”  As Yeave sighed Dr. Shepherd went to knock on Kemom and Leander’s door to tell them that dinner would be served soon.  “Missing an evening meal, I never heard of such a thing!”

Spencer was musing on how he did like and respect Dr. Shepherd, even though he was a bit of a fussbudget, when Sarai finally came out.  It had been hard to tell, with her being in bed and wearing a severe bun when she was in uniform, and the softer way she wore it up in her mind, but her hair was a thick fall of ink black curls that hung to her waist.  She must have noticed the look on his face.  “It’s going to take forever to dry.”  She complained.  “But it feels so good to have it water clean.”

“What do you use on ship?”

“The baths have this cleansing mist that you stand in and then you walk past these air nozzles that blast you clean.  It works on really short hair.”  She said, nodding to Yeave’s closely cropped cut.  “But Grandma forbid my ever having it cut.” 

“Eridians!”  Dr. Shepherd said.  “Good for her.  The ladies of the court never cut their hair.  It was a matter of pride.”

“It’s a matter of thirty minutes less sleep just to deal with it.”  Yeave pointed out.

“I think it’s lovely.”  Spencer admitted when she came to sit next to him, squirming a bit to get comfortable.  “I’m glad you never cut it.”  He caught the closest lock of it and started toying with it gently.

She smiled and let him.  “Maybe with my brother around things will be different.”

“You keep complaining about the Eridians.”  Morgan said to Dr. Shepherd.  “It sounds like they saved a lot of people when the war started, gave you guys a bunch of military technology.”

“With strings attached,” Dr. Shepherd said.  “Eridians are devoutly ascetic; it’s a religious practice for them.  And like most religious practices they believe that everyone should behave the way they do.  Even though we were allied they never felt comfortable with our cultural traditions, which more closely mirrored the Terran philosophy of Aestheticism.  The more I learn the more it looks like they used our time of need to forcibly attempt to destroy our culture.  And they have very nearly succeeded.”

“They won’t succeed.”  By now Matt and Emily had joined the group.  “We’ll bring it back.  And what we can’t bring back we’ll begin again.  So no cutting your hair,” Matt said, not seriously, while taking one of his sister’s curls in his fingers and giving it a gentle, teasing tug.

“I suppose this means I’m going to have to grow mine.”  Yeave said with a dramatic sigh.

“I’m not making anyone do anything.”  Matt relied.  “But if you choose to I’ll make sure you have what you need for it.”

Yeave nodded.  “I’ll think about it.”

Emily had intercepted one of the guards letting supper through earlier.  Now he stepped forward to murmur.  “Dinner’s ready.”  She told them.

According to Dr. Shepherd even at a simple family dinner the first course, always raw greens, was set out onto plates and waiting when people were called to the table.  Afterward the lady of the house, a slightly nervous Sarai in this case, would place servings of the main course on plates to be passed, and then side dishes and seconds would pass family style.  “At a formal dinner there are no side dishes,” He pointed out.  “Dishes are served in courses.  Large banquets are broken up into smaller tables to facilitate passing.”

“And this would happen even for a nuclear family meal?”  Blake asked.  “Of course that assumes nuclear families.”

“It does and we do form nuclear families.”  Dr. Shepherd smiled.  “How do they handle mealtimes on the _Treve_?”

“Grab a ration packet from the dispensary and find a spot somewhere to get it down.”  Yeave responded.  “Unless you count standing around with your team for ten minutes ‘family time’ it’s not exactly traditional.”

“I’ve tried their food.”  Morgan said.  “It doesn’t even warrant ten minutes.”

“Eridians!”  Dr. Shepherd huffed again.  “I know military life requires some adaptations, but even your meal halls could be adapted to maintain some semblance of culture.  That is inexcusable.”

“I’m sure we’ll be able to do something to fix it.”  Matt replied, trying to soothe him.

“I want to ask you what life was like at court.”  Emily said.  “But I’m afraid if I do you won’t have a chance to eat.”

“Nonsense!”  Dr. Shepherd said with a smile.  He spent the rest of the meal telling legends and funny stories from a world long gone.  People took turns translating when needed and everyone relaxed and savored the meal.

I just wish we could have the whole team here, Spencer thought.  He caught Sarai’s eye and returned her smile.  With me and Emily and Morgan we’re practically merging families.  And it’s absolutely wonderful.  It’s more than I ever could have dreamed.


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43**

After supper they brought dessert, an essential end to every Quadranian meal, to the parlor.  “I have just the thing.”  Dr. Shepherd said, moving to the trunk that had served as his coffee table in the house on Windom.  “I haven’t brought this out since we came here; my brother Dahel stuck it in my bag as we were heading for the launch pad.  Is it possible to lift that down?”  He indicated a large picture on a length of flat wall.

“Yeah,” Morgan got up and looked.  “Matt.”  The two men carefully lifted the picture down.  Then anticipating what was going to happen they dimmed the lights.

The sphere Dr. Shepherd removed from the bag and activated hovered in the air behind their heads.  He placed a small dot from a case into a slot on the surface.  Sure enough a home movie began to play.  “Ah, the Feast of Flowers picnic,” he said, a smile entering his voice.

Spencer and the other…Earthlings watched in rapt fascination.   Normally home movies were perhaps the most deadly dull form of home entertainment.  But these had been shot on another planet, even just this glimpse of that world, that culture, was utterly fascinating.  But it wasn’t just that, he felt Sarai’s hand curl into his and he realized that this might be the first time she’d ever seen pictures of her family alive and happy.

It looked like a flock of gaily dressed people of all ages at a lavish picnic in a pastoral setting.  “Are those….”  Blake tipped her head to look over the dresses the women were wearing.

“It looks like a sari, only it’s worn differently.”  Emily replied.  She looked over at Yeave and Sarai.  “You could copy those, you know.  We have similar clothing.”

“Oh, that was a formal occasion; Holiday party.  But I have pictures or everyday dress as well if you two want.  Do you celebrate the holidays at all on the _Treve_?”  Dr. Shepherd asked.

“I don’t think we’ve ever really celebrated anything.”  Sarai replied.  “Grandma always tried to do something when she could, but there wasn’t a lot.”

“My to-do list keeps growing.”  Matt sighed.

“What holidays have you been celebrating here?”  Blake asked.

“Both sets,” Matt said.  He smiled and shrugged.  “I like Thanksgiving.”

“And try telling a public school kid that they’re not celebrating Halloween or Christmas.  I didn’t have a choice, but we celebrated the traditional ones as well.  Ah.  There.”  Dr. Shepherd said.  A couple came into the scene, the man tall and broad in the shoulder, with ink dark hair and pale eyes, the woman with auburn curls worn in an intricate cascade over her pale dress and eyes a brilliant blue.  “That’s Eldrak and Ananna.”  He said.  A moment later a woman in a gown of rich saffron joined them.  “And that’s…”

“Mom,” Yeave said, her eyes growing misty.

“And there’s Grandma!”  Sarai exclaimed when an older woman came into view.

They watched for a solid hour, not just parties but common scenes, dinners being cooked, young men playing some kind of game that looked to involve a ball somehow, pleasant week-end outings that had Spencer and Blake staring in awe at the three-horned animal that they used for riding.  Then Dr. Shepherd put in one more disk.  “Ah, here we go.”  He said.

This was taken in a place that was obviously come kind of medical facility.  “I want to go over this frame by frame.”  Spencer signed.  What they could learn just from this.

The camera panned and faced a door.  A dark hand came up and knocked.  A moment later Yeave’s mother opened it, wearing a beaming smile.  The camera came through and around a screen to focus on the auburn haired woman lying on the bed, and the large man sitting on a stool beside it, a much younger Dr. Shepherd himself standing watch over them; everyone looking tired and proud and very happy.  And in her arms was a small, familiar bundle.  “Oh no,” Matt groaned as they all started to chuckle.  “If there is a bare butt picture of me on that thing….”

“I would never.”  Dr. Shepherd replied.  The camera came closer to the bed, focusing on the happy family, their friends gathered near, everyone marveling at the newest member.  It then changed to a formal ceremony, where the baby was being walked to the front of a large, ornate hall.  “Want to watch your dedication?”  He asked.

“I think we can skip that part.”  Matt replied.

“Then let me fast forward…we’re almost at the end of this disk.”  Dr. Shepherd peered down and delicately touched the tiny controls.  “That…”

The scene on the film changed.  It was bouncy, rough.  Dahel must have just pulled it out of his bag and was focusing it on a strange weather pattern in the sky over what looked to be an urban area.  The clouds seemed to be moving far too fast….then they rolled open and a ship started raining down sheets of fire.

Dr. Shepherd turned off the machine.  “I apologize.”  He said.  “I didn’t know that was on there.”

“We’ll put it back together.”  Matt said, reassuringly, to the ones who had gone too quiet.  “And what we can’t put back together we’ll reinvent.  Either way it will work, you just wait.”

There was some quiet small talk, but it was late and after that reminder the gathering started to break up.  “Dr. Reid.”  Dr. Shepherd stopped Spencer before he left.  “I was wondering if I could make a request.”

“Of course.”

“One way or another when we leave I am leaving my trunk here.  That could well be the last record of our civilization, until we have a safe home I’d rather not risk it being lost.  I plan to approach the American government about allowing research in exchange for achieving the materials, the books, music, that sort of thing.  But it will need at least a part-time custodian…”

Spencer was shocked.  He’d never expected such an honor, “Of course.”

“Thank you.”

* * *

 

“Hey, Captain.”  Kemom said as he and Leander headed to bed.  “How much longer are we going to be on this planet?”

Yeave shrugged.  “They said the _Kinjai_ should be at the landing zone late tomorrow, as long as it takes to get things checked out, settled.  Maybe a couple of weeks.  Why?”

“It’s a great planet and all, and their treating us real good, but…well…it’s great to have a vacation, but we’ve got a war to fight.”

Yeave sighed.  She understood.  “Yeah, I know.”

 


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44**

The next morning everyone was back in uniform.  Spencer noticed that Sarai was looking…well…not entirely happy about it.  But she was also putting on a calm, pleasant front for everyone.  He called up the image of that mental cell phone and focused on her contact.  After a moment he felt the connection intensify.  “ _What’s wrong_?”

_“Nothing.”_

_“Try again.”_

He saw her sigh.  _“I am very proud of wearing the uniform of my people.”_   She said.

_“But…”_

_“But couldn’t the Eridians have made it comfortable?”_

_“Oh.”_

_“Yeah.  I’m all right.”_   She put her plate down on the table and came over to brush a gentle kiss to his cheek.  “Thank you for caring though.”

“Of course.”

Thankfully he and Morgan had just enough time to get through breakfast before Morgan’s phone rang.  “Yeah baby girl.  He’s right here.”  Deep breath, “Yeah, we’re on our way.”  Spencer felt his heart falling as Morgan looked over at him.  “Missing kids,” he said.  “You don’t have to go.  You can take a personal stand down.”

Spencer was impossibly tempted.  But he couldn’t shirk his duty like that; the guilt would eat him alive.  He turned to Sarai who just smiled.  “I know.”  She said.  “There’s no point in standing around watching us work on a ship.  We won’t leave without saying good-bye.”

Damn.

She caught up with him in the hall before he left.  “I saw some of what happens, you know, while we were…”  She stammered before throwing herself into his arms.  “You don’t get to leave without saying good-bye either.”

Only Maeve had ever said that to him before and meant it like that.  “Promise,” he said.

* * *

 

It was later that day, on the plane ride to Spokane, when he started feeling nervous.

They were quietly going over the case file, looking for patterns, clues, indications of what the Unsub might be doing with the children when the feeling started.  But why would he be nervous?  There was no need for him to be nervous.  Could it be something else?  He settled back and switched to looking at some of the notes Dr. Shepherd had given him, how to control his new abilities, how to strengthen them and grow.  Yes, there was a meditation technique that would help you to differentiate between your own feelings and that of another.  He tried it and realized that the feeling of nervous tension was seeping in from the cell phone in his head.  So he excused himself to the galley, miming receiving a call for cover, and used the cell in his hand to call Matt.  But Matt didn’t answer.  “She’s fine.”  Dr. Shepherd said by way of a greeting.

“Something’s not right.”

“Bit of a medical check-up, to make certain she wasn’t harmed by the Olan.  Nerves are understandable, and you may pick up on some discomfort, but she’s in good hands.  I’ll have her call you when they’re finished.”

“All right.  Thank you.”  Spencer rang off and sent a quick text to Morgan and Blake to indicate the problem before returning to his seat.

“Everything all right?”  Hotch asked.

Spencer sighed.  All the security in the world couldn’t keep a profiler from picking up on your microexpressions.  “Yeah.”

“That was not an all right ‘yeah’.”  Rossi said.

In the end they had not been able to read the rest of the team in.  Even though he knew they would understand, some of them had been in this boat before, he still hated lying to them.  Thankfully the cover story wasn’t too far from the truth.  “There’s this girl….”  Instantly he had their full attention.  “Remember Matt?”

“The guy Emily’s dating?”  JJ asked.

“Yeah.  There’s a lot I can’t talk about but he’s not actually from the states.” 

“Does this have to do with that whole protocol thing?”  Rossi asked.

“Yeah.  She, um, works for State; turns out she was working on the same project.”

“Uh huh,” Rossi nodded.  Good, they looked satisfied with the story.  “Everything all right?”

Now for the part he had to make up himself.  “She was in a minor accident this morning.”  They all looked up at that.  “She’s fine.  She walked away, but she’s getting checked out just in case.  Matt’s there with her.  She’s fine.”

“Probably pretty shaken up though.”  JJ said.

“Yeah.  She’s going to call back when they release her.”

“And she’s calling Prince Charming.”  Morgan helped out with a big grin, “Awww.”

JJ whacked him with her file, “Ass.”

Well if he wanted to go there.  “It’s not like I’m the only one who met a girl on the project.”

Ha.  Now they were all looking at Morgan.  “Oh really?” JJ said.  “Do we get details?”

Morgan was literally squirming.  “Not yet.”

“There was someone else there.”  Rossi pointed out, “Someone who probably knows all the players.  Alex?”

Blake shook her head, “Still bound by the security codes.”

“That’s not fair.”  JJ said.

Blake just smiled serenely in reply.

About thirty minutes later, thirty minutes of growing discomfort over that connection and then a flood of relief and then something stronger and harder to define, his phone rang.  “Hey.  Are you okay?”  He asked as he headed for the galley and some privacy.

“Yeah,” Sarai said. “I’m all right.”

 She sounded like she had been crying.  “Try again.”

“No, really, I am.  They found a minor wound that was already mostly healed, really just a scratch, but there was no major damage, no reason why I can’t…do whatever I want to do in the future.  Uncle said that it was probably the stress and the pain of that injury that made me lose it like that.”

“But…”

“If I hadn’t they would have….”  She gasped like she was going to start crying again.

Totally normal reaction, he thought, the shock of realizing what might have happened.  “Shhh.  It’s okay.  It didn’t happen, it’s over.”

“I know, I know, I just…”  She got her breathing under control again.  “I think I’m going to cry on Ehawk’s shoulder some more.”

Spencer kept his chuckle gentle.  “I doubt he’d mind.  When I get back I’ll take you to see something wonderful, just us.”

He finally heard a smile in her laugh, “Promise?”

“Absolutely.”

“All right.  Be careful?”

“I will.”

There was a pause then, and… “If I say I love you…”

Spencer smiled.  He could feel it but hearing it meant so much now.  “Love you too.”  They rang off and he returned to his seat.

“Is she all right?”  Blake asked.

He knew that for her and Morgan that question had a different meaning.  “She’s fine.  A few scrapes and bruises.  She’s just shaken up is all.”

Blake nodded.  “It’s understandable.  You should take her out for a nice dinner when we get back.”

“Which should involve ice cream,” JJ said.

“Maybe flowers,” Rossi added.

They continued to offer advice all the way to Spokane.


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45**

At first they had wanted to move the _Sulaco_ to another field but Matt put his foot down.  “That ship is our only way off planet.”  He said.  “If god forbid something happens I’m not going to have to go halfway across the country to some hole in the wall to get my people out of here.  So long as we’re based in DC then it stays at the closest military airport, period.”

That said now that everyone was communicating clearly they agreed to get it off the grass between the runways.  After Sarai’s checkup the entire crew went down, turned off the force field and powered her up.  Then they used the landing equipment to gently levitate her into the furthest hangar, allowing the airport to re-open.  “Everything’s five by five, Captain.”  Leander said, “Just as we left it.”

“Outstanding.”  Yeave said.  Once the ship was safely in place she stuck her head out the door.  “We are good to go.”  She said to Matt.

“Excellent.  The _Kinjai_ should be here in about three hours.”

Right on time the massive C-5 Galaxy aircraft landed on the runway.  It taxied over to the hangar and opened its main hatch, allowing the crew of the _Sulaco_ and the flock of gathered scientists to see the contents.  “I’ll be dammed.”  Kemom muttered as they looked over the craft that was nearly identical to the _Sulaco_.  “It doesn’t look like it’s in bad shape, Captain.”  He said.

“Not so much.”  The paint job was shot, Yeave thought as she walked around the ship, but the hull looked clean.  She opened the hatch, letting only stale air out, “Still got battery power.  Check that left stabilizer.” 

The two guys went over to have a look.  “Yeah, it’s got a sizable dent.  Might have some of the wiring blown.”  Leander said.  “Fixable though.  But I’d be careful with moving her like this.”

Yeave nodded in reply.  “All right, let’s get her out of here.”

Sarai was the better pilot so she moved to her usual seat and started going through the checks.  “She still has nearly a full pile of fuel; she could make the trip another three times over.  Let’s see…”  She touched another set of commands and the door closed, the environmental system hissing to life.  After a moment the computer returned a reading.  “We have hull integrity.”  She announced.

“Excellent.”  That was a big point in their favor.  Yeave settled into her seat beside her friend.  “All right, let’s go.”

They fired up the landing equipment and gently floated the _Kinjai_ a few inches off the deck of the C-5.  But when they went to move her down the ramp she started bucking, jerking sideways, forcing Sarai to hold her steady.  “That’s the stabilizer.”  She said.  “That is going to need to be fixed.”  The ship limped inside, following Kemom’s hand gestures, until she finally settled next to the _Sulaco_ , her skids unfolding with a long, squeaky groan, immediately followed by a groan from her pilot.  “Please don’t tell me…”

“Yeah, those are going to need greasing down.”  Her friend told her.

“Hey Captain.”  Leander called from the front of the ship.  “We’ve got a problem.”  The two women piled out to find him pulling bits of things off the nose of the ship and crumbling them.  “Heat shields are shot.”

“Damn it!”  Yeave growled.  They were so close.

“What is it?”  Matt asked.

“The heat shields.  They protect from the friction of going through the atmosphere.  These are falling apart.”

“Probably the salt water,” Dr. Shepherd sighed.  “I was afraid of that.  Do you have any in stores?”

All ships carried some spare parts, just in case.  “Not enough to recover the entire nose.”  Yeave sighed.

“But…don’t they use those on the Space Shuttle?”  He turned to the scientists and switched to English, explaining the problem.  “Don’t you use those on the Space Shuttle?”

“Yes we do.”  The lead NASA representative replied.  “We can get some if you need them.”

“Yes, thank you!  That would be very helpful.”  Matt turned back to the _Sulaco’s_ crew.  “What else do you need?”

“About three days of hard work.”  Yeave replied.

“Great.”

Dr. Shepherd harrumphed.  “Now that they have a plan if you can live without me for a bit I’ve got a few errands to run.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.  Those two girls can Uncle Fussbudget me if they like but I simply cannot stand another evening meal with the ladies of the court dressed in men’s clothing.  No.”  He held up his finger to stop Matt’s objection.  “I remember what Ananna and Minou used to wear for casual family evenings.  I’m going to go see how close I can get.”

“All right,” Matt replied.  “But we can’t make them wear it if they don’t want to.”

“I know.  But at least I will be able to rest knowing they had the opportunity.”

* * *

 

Later that evening Matt was left blinking by their reaction.  Yeave had been utterly tickled by the gift, and thanked her Uncle profusely, but it hadn’t been that big of a deal.  Sarai, however, had been practically dancing with joy.  “I don’t get it.”  He said to Emily.

“No woman wants to feel dowdy all the time.”  Emily replied.  “If all I had were sweats and my uniform I’d be taking a hit in the self-esteem, and I haven’t been through half of what they have.  If they want to come home after work and change into something that makes them feel good about themselves then they should have the opportunity.”

“Okay.”

“Especially if there are guys around that they want to impress.”

He groaned.  “I did not need to think about that.”  Then he looked her over.  “Do you try to impress me?”

Emily smiled.  Sure the tank top and loose pants she put on when she got back to their room were comfortable.  But they were also cut to highlight the best parts and that deep red shirt was totally her color.  “I’m not going to answer that.”

But she hadn’t taken into account the different social mores between Quadris and Earth.  Dr. Shepherd had however.  “On Quadris,” he said his manner slightly pedantic, “It is considered unseemly for ladies to bare the toes in public.  Going completely barefoot is something to be reserved for the presence of one’s intimate partners, and even longer skirts and dresses are considered more modest.”

“Huh.  Interesting.”  Emily replied.  “We have a parallel, in Arabic culture it’s considered unseemly to show someone the sole of your foot.  It’s rude to cross your ankle over your knee while speaking with an Arabic person, it’s quite the offence.  Mom used to have a terrible time with American businessmen who went to meet with officials over there, because they were so accustomed to sitting like that.  But based on the film you showed last night I’m guessing that bare arms and showing the midriff is acceptable.”

“According to my sister-in-law you would considered quite dowdy if you did not.”

“But in Western Earth culture it’s quite different.  Women wear sandals and flip flops and short skirts all the time but showing too much tummy is considered daring.  Wait a minute…”  Uh oh…

Yep, he had.  As Emily watched the two women came out dressed in something closer to their native fashion, little slippers, long, light cotton skirts that rode almost too low and daringly short cropped tops.  Well they had the bodies to carry off showing that much skin.  Morgan and Reid were going to be in trouble when they got back.  What else surprised her was the feeling of Matt at her shoulder.  “You’re beautiful.”  He murmured in her ear.

How had he known that she was taking a bit of a knock to her own self esteem at that moment?  “Reading my mind?”  She asked.

“Didn’t have to,” he nodded down to where she was absently rubbing the scar that Ian had left her.  “The life you’ve lived makes you beautiful.”  He told her.

Yeah, okay, that was just the right thing to say.


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46**

“Don’t look at me.”

Of course when Spencer and Morgan finished the case and came back two days later it wasn’t at the end of the work day.  It was very nearly the end, but everyone was still at Andrews working on the ship.  So they went straight there to rejoin that team.  They found Kemom replacing the damaged sensors on the _Sulaco_ , Leander replacing the dented stabilizer on the _Kinjai_ , Yeave replacing the heat shield tiles, and Sarai just finishing a glorious day greasing in the landing skids.  She was well and truly coated in the thick, grey grease as well, from the elbows down, of course, but it had dripped all over the fronts of her thighs, was wiped on her t-shirt, was in the wisps of hair that had escaped her snug bun, and was even smeared on her cheeks and nose.  She was a wreck.  “Don’t look at me.”  She said to Spencer.

Matt and Dr. Shepherd were also just arriving.  “Dear God what happened?”  Dr. Shepherd asked.

“I had to grease the skids and we still haven’t found a grease gun that will fit up in there.  This is the last of the original Quadrainian fleet; parts are kinda hard to come by.”  She said.  “I’m a pilot, not a mechanic; the boys got the fiddly work.”  They watched as he stood there and blustered a moment.  “I know, I know, you’re going to say that no lady of the court would ever lower herself to a job this dirty.  Well no lady of the court ever had to go to war before.  In times like these sometimes doing your duty to your people means getting very, very dirty, but a true Lady never shirks her duty.”  Dr. Shepherd just threw up his hands and gave up.  She turned to Spencer and smiled.  “That doesn’t mean she doesn’t want one of those water baths as soon as possible.  Until I get one don’t look at me.”

“Oh my god!”  Blake exclaimed.  “Spencer, look at this!”

“Yes!  Distract him!  Thank you!”  Sarai replied.

Spencer went over to look at what Blake was holding.  It was a report on the planned test flight of the _Kinjai_ , set for the next day.  The plan was to have both ships leave the planet and do a test run, staying within one hundred million kilometers of the planet, a flight that should take about two hours.  They would split the crew, Yeave and Leander on the _Kinjai_ for having the best chance to do a quick repair if anything went wrong, Sarai and Kemom on the _Sulaco_. 

“…not that far apart at this point in the healing process…”  He dimly heard Dr. Shepherd say.

If the _Kinjai_ was disabled the _Sulaco_ would tow it back to the International Space station and use that to transfer the _Kinjai’s_ crew to the _Sulaco_ to return to Earth.  Naturally NASA wanted to send along observers, but because the _Sulaco_ could only return a maximum of six passengers, the government was limited to one observer on each ship.  The _Kinjai_ was taking along an experienced astronaut, someone who had commanded the space shuttle more than once.  And the _Sulaco_ was taking…

Spencer blinked.

His heart stopped.

Time stopped.

“Spencer?”  Blake asked.

Still in shock Spencer slowly turned to the big work sink where Sarai was attempting to wash up.  He hit top speed about halfway across the hangar.  By the time he reached her he had ample energy onboard to grab her up in his arms, swing her around, and kiss her hard, grease be dammed.

Morgan started laughing.  “What’s this all about?”  He asked.

“Spencer’s the second observer.”  Blake told him.  “He’s going up on the _Sulaco_ tomorrow.”

Morgan gaped at her, “To where?”

“A little flight around Mars and back to test out the _Kinjai_.”

“Are you serious?”  Morgan asked, taking the paper from her to look.

Spencer didn’t hear them.  He barely realized that he was kissing Sarai.  It was true!  It was real!  He was going into space!  He was riding a real alien spacecraft!  His wildest dreams were actually coming true!  “Thank you!”  He said, kissing her again.  “Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!” 

* * *

 

Later that evening Spencer found himself wondering if maybe his wildest dreams needed to be revised a bit.

They had missed the whole skirts vs pants/native dress vs comfort and practicality debate, or the solution Emily found that involved loose, low-slung pants in sari type prints to go with those cropped shirts.  The first indication was when Yeave came out dressed so, and Morgan gave her a very appreciative look.  “So that’s what girls dress like back home?  I may have to go visit.”

She laughed at him.  “Let us get moved in first.”

He sensed Sarai behind him before he saw her.  As soon as he turned she was in his arms and then all he knew was soft lips and silken curls and the warm, bare skin of her back under his hands as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and returned the kiss from earlier.  For a moment he thought they were back in that glass room, and all he wanted to do was dance.  “You’re welcome.”   She murmured against his lips.

 Maybe there were greater adventures here on Earth now after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, it looks like this story is going 49 chapters or else it's going to ramble. I am trying very hard to stop the rambling. I do have a sequel planned though which will bring the team in and get someone in danger. If I can get some comments for some motivation I might just finish the last chapter and finish publishing tomorrow or the next day at the latest. Hint hint!


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47**

“Hey.”

“Hey Garcia.  What’s up?”

“Okay, so Morgan told me last night that you were doing something completely crazy today, in, like a bad and dangerous way.”

“Did he tell you what it was?”

“No, he said he couldn’t.  But I don’t want you doing something crazy and dangerous.  I want you to stay safe and come back and be our resident genius again.”

Spencer sighed.  “Garcia, I have to.”

“Why?”

“Because it may be dangerous, but this is going to be my only chance to make a dream come true.  I never thought I’d ever be able to do this and now I am.”

Garcia was quiet for a moment.  “Wow, you can even hear it in your voice.”

“Penelope, I have to do this.”

It was her turn to sigh.  “Call me when it’s over?”

“Promise.”

* * *

 

The next morning Spencer strapped himself into the engineer’s seat onboard the _Sulaco_.

They had agreed to let NASA strap cameras and monitors to the ship known to be safe so they could record the experience.  It was his task to monitor all the equipment, but a quick check of the laptop showed that it was all safe and running.  “Can I get up and move around at all?”

“As soon as we’re clear of the atmosphere and the internal gravity comes on.”  Sarai replied abstractly as she ran her pre-flight check.  “Your seat will cushion you during acceleration.”

 “And you’re sure this thing is safe.”

She turned and gave him a look.  “Do not question my baby.  I practically live on this ship.”

“All right.”

“If you need to hit the fresher go before we take off.”  Kemom reminded him.

Spencer considered, and then took his advice.

Not too long after he returned to his seat, with traffic stopped around the base and the sky empty, both ships levitated off the floor of the hangar.  With the _Kinjai_ slightly in the lead, they floated out to the grassy center of the runway and touched down gently as Spencer felt a force shield encompass his body, holding him in place.  “Ready _Kinjai_?”  Sarai asked.

“Yep.”  Yeave replied over the intercom.  “You ready _Sulaco_?”

“Let’s do it Captain.”

In the background he could hear the official countdown.  “T-minus three…two…one… _Kinjai_ and _Sulaco_ , you are cleared for takeoff.”

As Spencer watched the engines of the _Kinjai_ lit green fire and she streaked down the grass and then off, up, up into the heavens. 

“Here we go.”  Sarai said.

All of a sudden they were moving.  The airport rushed by in a blur.  Then the nose was up and he was leaning back and even with the shield in place Spencer swore an elephant was pushing him back into his seat.  Up and up into a sky so blue it was almost impossible.  Up and up and up until he looked to the side and saw the curve of the Earth.

And then he saw the stars surrounding him.

“Not quite.”  Sarai said, “Just a few more minutes.”

Up and up, with the blue receding further and further behind them and more and more stars as they lifted to the heavens.  Spencer couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.  All he kept thinking over and over was I’m in space, I’m in space, I’m in space.

“Dr. Reid?”  It was Commander Jenkins over on the _Kinjai_.  “How are you doing?”

“It’s beautiful!”  Spencer gasped out.

The Commander chuckled.  “Oh isn’t it though.”

After a few moments they leveled out and were just floating there, in space.  Spencer felt gravity return to him and then the shield switched off, leaving him feeling like he was sitting in a seat on the plane.  “How are you doing over there _Kinjai_?”  Sarai asked.

“We might be having a problem with our internal gravity.”  Yeave replied.  “Hang on.”  There was a pause, then a clunk and Leander called out “Ow!”  Yeave chuckled.  “Fixed it.  Booting  sensors to start our Run”

“Roger that.”  Sarai went about reconfiguring that which needed to be shifted over from atmospheric flight to space.  She looked over at Spencer.  “You can get up and look out the windows now.  What are you thinking?”

Spencer checked the laptop, noted that everything was running smoothly, and then did get up and look out the window.  “Poetry,” he replied.

“Oh?”

 “For I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth  
 And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;  
 Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth  
  
 And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod  
 The high untrespassed sanctity of space,  
 - Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.”

“That’s beautiful.”  Kemom said.  “We should have poetry on all our flights out.”

“Maybe we should.”  Spencer looked over, Sarai had clearly been touched, he could feel it, could see it in her smile.

“You ready to start our run _Sulaco_?”  Yeave asked over the comm.

“Yep, you get the lead _Kinjai_.”

“Where are we going?”  Spencer asked.  Why hadn’t he thought to ask before?

“We’re going to take a swing around the fourth planet from your solar and come back.”  Sarai replied.  “That will give them a chance to shake the bugs out of the _Kinjai_.”

“The fourth…”  It took him a moment but then it clicked.  “We’re going to Mars?”

“We’re not landing.”  She replied.  “We’re not even entering orbit.  But we should get close enough for a nice view.

“Of Mars?”

She just laughed in reply.

As Spencer watched a bubble of distortion formed around the _Kinjai_ , and then it shot forward at an incredible speed.  A moment later they were accelerating, but he could only tell from looking out the window, he couldn’t feel a thing.  “There we go.”  Kemom said.  He got up and stretched once they were up to speed.  “Anyone else hungry?”

“You’re getting as bad as Leander.”  Sarai told him.

“It’s just ‘cause the Terran food is so good.”  He laughed and moved to the galley.

Spencer simply couldn’t tear his eyes away from the windows.  The stars were the most beautiful things he had ever seen.  And that red dot that just kept growing, bigger and bigger, seemed to call him like a siren.  And between here and there a soft grey dot that was growing faster.  “Does this planet have a moon?”  Sarai asked.

“Two.”  Spencer replied, “Phobos and Deimos.” 

“Well we’re going to get close to one of them.” 

It took forever and no time at all before they were banking along past Deimos, the soft, grey surface and large craters obvious to the naked eye.  Then, before he had a chance to even breathe the red planet was beneath them and they were skimming close enough to see the landforms beneath them.

“Oh my god!”  Commander Jenkins said.  “It’s just like I dreamed!”

Spencer would have said the same if he was capable of speech.  At that moment he couldn’t have said anything, he was too busy looking.  He thanked whatever created it for his eidetic memory; he would never forget this moment, not once in his life.

“We could go down there.”  The Commander said into his headset.  “These things can land, we could land down there.”

“We don’t have the suits for it.”  Yeave replied.  “And we need to conserve fuel.”

“But in theory we could.”  He insisted.  “We could send a team up and be back for the week-end.”

Spencer heard a whimper that came from his throat.  They could.  With this technology they could send a manned mission to Mars without issue at all.

Sarai heard it and cast a glance over at him.  “We’ll go.”  She decided abruptly.

“What?”

“We’ll go.  When the war is over and everything is safely underway we’ll go.  You and I.  A grand tour of all the League planets, every one.”

He stared at her a long moment.  He knew their plans could take twenty or thirty years to come to fruition.  So he’d be Hotch’s age, it wouldn’t matter.  He’d see the stars, walk on other planets, experience cultures no one on Earth ever had…  “Yes.”  Oh please yes.

She just smiled in return.

Far too soon they completed their loop around the red planet and were headed home.  Once they were well clear Kemom got back up to head to the galley.  “I have an idea.”  Sarai said.  She nodded toward Kemom’s seat.  “Sit.”  Spencer looked at her, wide eyed, and then sat.  “Okay, put your feet there…and your left hand there….and your right…yeah, like that….got it?”

He’d been wrapping his hands around the controls at her direction.  He could feel a sense of the engine vibrating ever so faintly through them.  “Yeah, why?”  A moment later the controls felt heavier somehow, like they were settling more directly into his hands, like he was…he was….he looked over only to see Sarai sitting there, a grin on her face, holding her hands in the air.  “Oh my god.” 

He was flying. 

He was flying a spaceship. 

He was flying a spaceship from Mars back to Earth.

Yes, it was a big, empty part of space, much like a big, empty parking lot, and Sarai was sitting right there, ready to grab the controls, but for a few moments that seemed to go on forever every dream he’d ever had over every sci-fi book magically came true.

It was more than he could have ever imagined.

* * *

 

Far too soon they were once again dropping into the blue of the sky.  They landed again at Andrews and then gently hovered into the hangar.  Spencer honestly didn’t know what was coming out of his mouth; he practically fell out of the ship, babbling something about flying and Mars.  In fact he was so busy babbling that he didn’t hear what Matt said to Yeave.  “Well, Captain?”  He asked.  “Willing to transfer your command?”

“Let us give her a good once over before I let you know, Sir.”  Yeave replied.

While they went off to get started General Davis came over to him.  “What’s it going to take to get some of this technology?”  He asked straight out.

Matt gave him a small smile.  “Let them finish their checks and I’ll let you know.”

Yeave and the crew gave the _Kinjai_ a thorough combing over, but in the end they found her as good as they had hoped.  Cosmetically she wasn’t the best by far but she was sound and in good, working order and had three-quarters of a pile of fuel, still.  “She looks good, Cap.”  Leander said when he completed the final check.

Yeave nodded and looked back to Matt.  “She’ll get the job done, Sir.”

“Good.  We can go with Plan A.”  Matt turned to General Davis and smiled.  “Let’s make a deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poem is taken from “High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
> 
> Thank you all for the sweet comments! I admit, I never answer because I never know how you're supposed to answer, but I do wait eagerly for everyone and adore all of them. It's really helpful to know that people are out there and interested. I'll try to be more responsive in the future. Thank you again!


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48**

It took three weeks to nail down the details of that deal.

In the end it was simple; they wanted to maintain a small, diplomatic mission on the planet, space to store precious artifacts, and a specially designed facility where they could store what they took to calling seed stock.  Eventually they wanted some space to set up a small colony of no more than a hundred adults to, as they put it, work with the seed stock until it was ready to be moved to their new planet.  “Are you willing to share that seed stock?”  One of the staff at the table asked.

“No.”  Matt replied firmly.  He didn’t like the greedy, grasping feel of the men at this table, and decided that not sharing the exact nature of that seed stock would be the best plan.  “That would violate our most sacred taboos; it would be devastating to my people.  We might even consider it an act of war.”

“Ahhhh.”

Good, that language was strong enough to convince them.  “No, those containers must remain sealed and only opened by our staff when the time comes to start processing.  Besides, why rely on us, we’ve already determined that you have seed stock of your own under development, although you’re not even close to maximizing the potential there.”

They brightened on hearing that.  Better to use native resources when possible, of course.  “Would you be willing to help us develop a program to do that?”

“Absolutely, in parallel with our own.”

“Excellent.”

“To pay for all this we’re willing to exchange the designs for any and all technology available.  While we won’t be turning over the _Kinjai_ directly, she’s the only escape craft available and must remain available as such, we are willing to have your engineers look her over as needed and we are willing to turn over any and all blueprints and technical specifications, including for her engine plant.”  Matt smiled.  “Within a decade you will be on Mars and off fossil fuels for good.”

Not long after that discussion a deal was made.

* * *

 

While Matt, Sarai, Dr. Shepherd and Yeave were all in those meetings Spencer, being the only other translator, got to drag Kemom and Leander around.  He quickly found out the two things that the entire crew of the _Sulaco_ wanted more than anything.

They wanted to eat and wanted to be outside.

They lapped up everything from nature hikes to boating on the Potomac to outdoor concerts to living history museum, and merrily packed along picnics and tried local delicacies.  Anything that involved fresh food and sunshine was simply adored.  Based on their reaction he was able to figure out the perfect date when Sarai was finally free.  “What do you think?”  He asked as he spread out the picnic blanket out over the grass.  The weather was perfect, and given that it was the middle of the week the museum garden was nearly empty.  The staff hadn’t minded them having a picnic in the corner.  All he’d had to do was pick up a couple of box lunches from the hotel.

Sarai was over by a bed of the garden, smiling over a gently opening rose.  “My grandmother showed me pictures of these.”  She said.  “They had exemplars planted in the Royal greenhouse that the cartographers brought back with them.  They’re even more beautiful in person.” 

“And according to Dr. Shepherd mik-mik fruits are very similar to peaches.”  He pulled two out of the basket and handed her one.

She settled with her back against the tree trunk and took a bite, swiping as the rich juice poured down her chin.  “Oh, it’s delicious!”  She exclaimed, swiping at some juice on her cheek

“I thought after this I could show you the Library of Congress.”

“Oh!”  No, it wasn’t the juice, she was crying as she turned her face toward the sun and leaned into his arms.   “This planet is everything I ever dreamed!”

* * *

 

Over those weeks he took her on picnics every chance he could, everywhere from the National Mall to a vest pocket park where they played chess under the trees, Matt having taught her the game.  But at last word came down.  “Well, Matt’s decided.”  She said as she joined him under the trees.

“Oh?”  Spencer looked up as Yeave went to join the rest of her crew at the duck pond.

“They’ve given him everything but one point and that he’s discussing that at dinner so he’s decided to take the deal.”

“Oh.”  Spencer nodded as his heart fell a very long way down.  “So you’ll be going soon?”

“Well that’s the thing.”  She settled on the bench next to him.  “Matt wants to leave a small mission here to represent the interests of our people.  And someone’s got to run it….”

Spencer felt his heart do a tight u-turn around Mars and start rising.  “You mean….”

Sarai leaned in and kissed him.  “I mean Yeave and I are staying.”  She murmured.

He didn’t need to leave the planet.  Dreams came true right here.

* * *

 

“You know the smallest chancery in the world is the British chancery in Minsk, the capitol of Belarus.”  Spencer said.

Morgan looked over.  “Don’t you mean embassy?”

“Technically the term ‘embassy’ refers to the staff presence and not the building, although since the staff consists of the ambassador and the occasional help of his wife, it counts in that regard as well.”

“Oh.”

Spencer nodded.  “Yes, it’s actually one room in a building that also houses the German chancery.  Because the Germans pay more of the rent they get two rooms and control of the kitchen.”

“What’s your point?”

“That technically this isn’t the world’s smallest chancery.”

Now that a diplomatic mission had been established it needed a chancery.  The State Department considered the house on Windom impossible to secure, so it was going on the market.  For the better part of a week Sarai and Yeave had toured houses while the team went out on a case, but every house they had been shown was vastly too big for two young women used to crowded space ships and refugee camps.

Finally a house had been found in Georgetown.  It had a neat wall around the property, satisfying the State department, four bedrooms, which satisfied Matt, and yet was not at all large, which suited Sarai and Yeave.  “I won’t feel like I’m rattling around like a bean in a can in this place.”  Sarai said when they came to observe the movers, having taken the furniture from Matt and Dr. Shepherd’s house to use for the time being.

“And it’s only a half-mile from campus.”  Spencer said.  “You could easily meet me there on foot or with a bicycle if you wanted.

“What’s a bicycle?”  Sarai asked.  Spencer just smiled.

A few moments later two men in suits left.  “The paperwork is done.”  Matt said, joining the group.

“Meaning?”  Morgan asked.

“You’re officially standing on another planet.”  Morgan looked down at the linoleum as Matt nodded.  “Welcome to Quadris.  Want a beer?”

* * *

 

Later that evening, their last night in the hotel, Emily met up with everyone in the main room of the suite dressed in her best Oscar de la Renta evening gown, the sleek black satin hugging every curve.  Add in the red lipstick and she knew she was knocking it out of the park.  “Well, what do you think?”  She asked Morgan and Reid as she came into view.

They ignored her.

“I think you look amazing.”  Matt said as he stepped to her side.

Morgan and Reid still ignored her.

Emily lapped up Matt’s opinion but could only roll her eyes at her colleagues.  “What has you two so enthralled?”  She asked, looking around the corner.

Right.  Sarai and Yeave were wearing their native formalwear, or as close as modified saris could get.  Tissue thin silk in shades of rose on Sarai and jewel-like purples and teals on Yeave that hugged curves better than Oscar, all embroidered with beads that shimmered every time they moved.  Add in a remarkable amount of skin showing and Emily could understand why the guys were dazzled.  Heck, if it wasn’t for Matt’s inability to take his eyes off her she might even feel dowdy.  “Am I showing too much cleavage?”  She asked Morgan.

“Huh?”  He replied.  She replied to that by punching him in the shoulder.  “Ow.”

“You look very nice Emily.”  Spencer said, finally. 

”Thank you Reid.”  She turned to the people who were actually going tonight.  “Is everyone ready?”

They were so they went.

* * *

 

Later that evening Matt and their host stepped aside.  “So everything is settled then, Your Majesty?” He asked.

“Yes, Mr. President.”  Matt replied.  “I think I can speak for my people when I say we couldn’t be more grateful, and we’re looking forward to our ongoing friendship.”

“I think on behalf of the people of the Earth I can say the same.  Your technology is going to do amazing things for our future.”

Matt chuckled.  “I’m already looking forward to returning to see that.”

“I’m sure.  Is there anything else we can do to assist you at this time?”

Here we go, Matt thought.  “Actually, on a personal level I do have one favor to ask.  It’s a question of staffing…”

 


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49**

_“Okay, I admit it.  I wish you didn’t have to go.”_

_“You do huh?”_

_“I’m going to miss you.”_

_“Miss me or miss being the only telepath.  Well, you won’t be the only telepath, Spencer will be here.”_

_“Exactly, I’ll miss having a brother.”_

_“See, that’s where you’re wrong.  Just because I’m out with the fleet, that doesn’t mean I stop being your brother.”_

_“True.  But I’m still going to miss you.”_

* * *

 

It seemed like the time came all of a sudden.  One hot Friday afternoon the crew of the _Sulaco_ gathered in her common room one last time.  “OK, your hold is packed.”  Yeave said.  “I’m trying not to think of your fuel burn getting out of here.”

“It’s the Royal Barge now Captain.”  Kemom quipped back.  “That ought to come with an extra fuel allotment.”  Then he went serious for a moment.  “You’re going to look after the bookworm for us, right?”

Yeave managed a sad smile.  “You know it.  Hey, it’s not like we’ll never see you guys again, you’ll be making the courier run now.”

“Yeah, but we’ve always served together.”  Leander pointed out.  “It’s not going to be the same.”

“Change happens.  We’ll all be okay through it.”  Yeave looked over to where Sarai was just quietly crying.  “Oh, come on you people!  We’re gonna win the war and get our planet back and you’re all acting like it’s a funeral!  Come here!”

A big hug went all around.  And in that hug the crew knew that they would never stop being family.

* * *

 

Not too long later it was Yeave’s turn to cry.  If there was anyone who had an honest chance of never coming back…. But she took a deep breath and held it as her uncle turned to her.  “You do look exactly like your mother.”  He said quietly.

“She wasn’t happy when you left either.”

He chuckled.  “I’m sure, but in these times we must do what we must.  Now,” he took her arm and led her aside a bit.  “I want you to know that I think that that Derek Morgan is a fine young man.  Whatever you two decide to do you have my approval and my blessing.”

“Oh…”

“And when I return…when I return, I am not that old …I would not be upset if I found some of my brother’s grandchildren to spoil.”

“Uncle!”  Hello moving too fast here.

Uncle Dhai chuckled, then leaned in and kissed her on the forehead.  “Keep to your duty.”  He said formally.  “Stay safe.  Be well.”

“You as well Uncle.”  She replied, hugging him hard.  “You as well.”

* * *

 

No one overheard the conversation Matt and Sarai had.  They only knew that it ended in a hug that might never end.

* * *

 

“Okay, so remember, the cover story is that I’m on an op for the CIA.”  Emily told them.  “I don’t think you’ll need to say any more.  Mom is, of course, pissed about it but she’s self-sustaining, I’ll write to her via courier.  Oh god I wish I could take Sergio.”

“He’ll be fine.”  Spencer said.  “Garcia will spoil him.  She always does.”

“I know.”  Emily looked at him for a long moment, then pulled him into a fierce hug.  “This is not good-bye.”  She said sternly.  “I am not running out on you.  I expect you to write.”

“You’re telling him to write.”  Morgan joked.  “They’re going to be taking letters back by the box now.”

“That’s fine.  You write too.”  Emily hugged him just as fiercely.  “This is going to be an adventure.”

“Technically this could be considered the greatest adventure in history.”  Spencer pointed out.

“And yet there’s still paper pushing involved.  There’s something grounding about that.  Oh god, one more,” Emily attempted to hug them both and succeeded.  “Look after each other out there.  No dying in the field while I’m gone.”

“You too,” Morgan said.

They hugged until they heard Matt clear his throat. 

Then it was time.

* * *

 

Not too long later Spencer and Morgan, Sarai and Yeave, stood in the open door of the _Kinjai’s_ hangar and watched as the _Sulaco_ lined up on the runway.  Her engines glowed green and then she started moving.  She picked up speed and with a roar leapt into the heavens.  Up and up she climbed, up toward the stars and the worlds and the people so very far away.

But Sarai didn’t watch, not with her eyes.  She was focused inward, on that peaceful strength that had been there since the moment she woke on the planet.  She focused as the thread grew lighter and lighter until… “Spencer?”  She put her hand out even before she turned and showed him the panic in her eyes.

He had been watching her ever since that dot became too faint to see.  Now he took her hand and opened that connection between them, still so bright and new.  _“I’m right here.”_

They were.  Together.

* * *

 

Morgan looked over and noticed that Yeave was sagging a little.  “Hey, he’s going to be okay.”  He said, putting an arm around her shoulders.  “He’s strong for his age, you know.”

“I know.  And he's the only one who knows the path through the belt.  But the war’s going to start in earnest now and I just…”

That was a lot of weight to carry, he thought, the war and her uncle and what they had planned for here.  She was a strong woman, but that was a long.  “Don’t you worry,” he said, letting her lean against him in every sense.  “We’re going to get it all done.”

* * *

 

“Can you turn on the rear viewscreen please?”  Matt said as soon as the restraint shields were shut off.

Emily got up to stand near him as Leander did as requested.  Through the back sensors they could see the familiar blue planet growing smaller and smaller.  “What are we doing?”  She moaned.

“Leaving home,” he replied quietly.  When he turned to look his eyes were shining.  “Only one I’ve ever known.” 

It was, she realized.  It was the only thing any of them had ever known.  Ahead lay the great unknown and for a moment it was terrifying.  She wanted to go curl up on the Great Plains somehow and pull the Pacific Ocean over her like a blanket and hide from the monsters out there.  It was possible that this was too much adventure.

“Come look at this.”  Dr. Shepherd called.

They turned and headed to the front.  There, through the big front viewscreens, were a million stars.  Emily could only gasp at the beauty.

Maybe it wasn’t too much after all.


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50**

“So the protocol is ongoing?”  Rossi asked.

It was the day after the _Sulaco_ departed, technically the first night of summer, and Dave Rossi was throwing one of his family barbeques in his back yard.  Will had Henry and Jack in the pool splashing around while Hotch manned the grill and Rossi kept things coming out of the kitchen.  “Yes.”  Blake said.  “But at the lowest alert level.  Actually they had to make one lower to better address the situation.”

“That is always a good sign.”  JJ said.  “I still don’t see how Matt and his guardian were involved.”

“They’re not from here.”  Blake said cautiously.  “They’re from the ally we’re working with.  Now Matt came to the US as an infant but Dr. Shepherd was a government official back then so when they sent Emily out to work on the situation…”

“They went along as advisors.”  JJ nodded.  “And Matt’s sister and Dr. Shepherd’s niece are staying here to manage affairs on this end.”

“Right.”

“And you can’t say what they’re doing?”

“The official story is that they’re working for State.”

“Okay.”  JJ nodded.  “That makes sense.  But how does that involve Morgan and Reid.”

“It doesn’t, officially.  Unofficially, well, you never know where you’re going to find the right someone.”

“Ohhhhh.” 

“I think they just want Sarah and Eva to be part of the family, given that they’re all alone here.”

“Well, you know, it’s an old Italian philosophy.”  Rossi said.  “There’s no such thing as too much family.”  The doorbell rang then and he went to let the newest members in.

* * *

 

As soon as the _Sulaco_ finished docking inside the _Treve_ Matt opened the door and led Emily, Dr. Trevelyan, the representative from NASA, out onto the catwalk.  Immediately a klaxon sounded.  “Intruder alert?”  Dr. Trevelyan asked.

“Yes.”  Dr. Shepherd replied.  “We’ll wait here for security.  I cannot believe that Nox kept the entire fleet waiting here for so long.”

“That is definitely a sign that Nox is not thinking with the head on his shoulders.”  Emily pointed out.  “Are you sure this is going to work?”

“Of course.  Matthew’s grandmother was one of the finest ladies of the court, known for her elegance and adherence to tradition.  No one outside the inner circle knew of her skill as a computer programmer, if she said she slipped the relevant programs into the system then that can be relied upon.”

A moment later four security guards rushed up.  “Identify yourselves!”  One insisted.  In reply Matt held up his open palm, indicating that he was willing to submit to a gene test for identification.  They unlocked the nearest panel and he set his hand into the slot.  As soon as he was identified a series of subroutines started that within seconds informed everyone of the return of the King.  The guards took one look and snapped to attention.  “Sire!  Our apologies, sir!”

“No need, you were doing your duty.”  Matt took a deep breath.  “Show us the way to the bridge, please.”

Emily found herself somehow slightly disappointed as they walked along the corridors and took the lift.  She’d expected something closer to the _Enterprise_ , all sleek lines and glossy black panels.  This was more like a navy ship, conduits and plumbing everywhere and all of it a dull, taupe color.  But given what they had said about the Eridians she probably should have expected it.

Computers were a lot easier to convince than people.  “What the hell do you mean the King just signed in?”  Admiral Knox was raving when the lift door opened.

“I don’t know, Sir.”  A younger man replied.  “The computer just said…”  Then he caught sight of Matt standing there and snapped to attention, causing the Admiral to spin around and just gape at them in shock.

“Admiral Nox.”  Matt smiled carefully and stepped to the man in question, shaking a limp hand.  “It’s a pleasure to finally meet such a well-regarded hero of the fleet.  Our sister has told us so much about your victories in the current conflict.”  He leaned in a little closer, letting the Admiral feel the power he could wield, letting him know exactly where he stood now.   “I shall have to make mention of them during my speech at your retirement dinner.”As he watched the Admiral sagged as he realized that his mistake just cost him his career. 

“Admiral Parsillus!”  Matt lifted his voice so the entire bridge could hear.  Parsillus opened his mouth to correct him, then realized that he had just been promoted and closed it again.  “I don’t want to interrupt fleet operations, I’m certain you have much to do.  When you have time I would like an update on the current state of the mission as well as our current relations with the Eridians.”  Admiral Nox went green at that, even more interesting.  “But that’s for later, allow me to make introductions and then perhaps someone can arrange for quarters.  I’m certain the reputation of my father’s Companion Dhai precedes him.”  Shep gave the Admiral a polite, very formal bow.  And these are the representatives from the planet Terra, located at Omicrom Three.  They are seeking an alliance with the League.  May I introduce Ambassador Emily Prentiss?”

Emily smiled and stepped forward into the future.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, we've come to the end of this one. But I already have a sequel in the works.
> 
> Once again, many thanks to my beta reader, the amazing REIDFANATIC, who puts up with sci-fi for me.
> 
> And thank you all for the comments, your support is the most encouraging thing I can imagine.
> 
> So watch this space for more, hopefully in the next few days. And thank you all for reading.
> 
> \- TKL


End file.
